GIFT   OF 

PROF.C.VKOFQ10 


Fig.  1.— Gateway  at  Labiia. 


[See  p.  144. 


ANCIENT  AMERICA, 


IN 


NOTES  ON  AMERICAN  ARCHEOLOGY. 


BY  JOHN  D.  BALDWIN,  A.M., 

I  \ 
AUTHOR    OF    "PRE-HISTORIC    NATIONS. 

WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NEW    YORK: 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN    SQUARE. 


_T 


PRQF.C.A.'WOID 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

JOHN    D.   BALDWIN, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PREFACE. 


THE  purpose  of  this  volume  is  to  give  a  summary 
of  what  is  known  of  American  Antiquities,  with  some 
thoughts  and  suggestions  relative  to  their  significance. 
It  aims  at  nothing  more.  No  similar  work,  I  believe, 
has  been  published  in  English  or  in  any  other  language. 
What  is  known  of  American  Archseology  is  recorded  in 
a  great  many  volumes,  English,  French,  Spanish,  and 
German,  each  work  being  confined  to  some  particular 
department  of  the  subject,  or  containing  only  an  intelli 
gent  traveler's  brief  sketches  of  what  he  saw  as  he  went 
through  some  of  the  districts  where  the  old  ruins  are 
found.  Many  of  the  more  important  of  these  works  are 
either  in  French  or  Spanish,  or  in  great  English  quartos 
and  folios  which  are  not  accessible  to  general  readers, 
and  not  one  of  them  attempts  to  give  a  comprehensive 
view  of  the  whole  subject. 

Therefore  I  have  prepared  this  work  for  publication, 
believing  it  will  be  acceptable  to  many  who  are  not  now 
much  acquainted  with  the  remains  of  Ancient  America, 
and  that  some  who  read  it  may  be  induced  to  study  the 

MI92O18 


viii  Preface. 

but  as  Ancient  America  covers  all  time  previous  to  the 
discovery  by  Columbus,  they  may  not  be  deemed  out  of 
place.  Materials  for  the  paper  on  "  Antiquities  of  the 
Pacific  Islands"  came  to  me  from  the  Pacific  World 
while  I  was  preparing  the  others.  The  discovery  of  the 
Pacific  is  so  intimately  connected  with  the  discovery  of 
America,  that  this  paper  would  not  be  out  of  place  even 
if  the  Mexican  and  Peruvian  traditions  did  not  mention 
that  a  foreign  people  communicated  with  the  western 
coast  of  America  in  very  ancient  times. 

WORCESTER,  MASS.,  November,  1871. 


CONTENTS. 


1.  ANCIENT  AMERICA.— THE  MOUND-BUILDERS 

Works  of  the  Mound-Builders 14 

Extent  of  their  Settlements 31 

Their  Civilization 33 

Their  Ancient  Mining  Works 43 

II.  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  MOUND-BUILDERS 47 

How  long  were  they  here? 51 

III.  WHO  WERE  THE  MOUND-BUILDERS? 5T 

Not  Ancestors  of  the  Wild  Indians 58 

Brereton's  Story 62 

American  Ethnology 65 

Who  the  Mound-Builders  were 70 

IV.  MEXICO  AND  CENTRAL  AMERICA 76 

Their  Northern  Remains 77 

The  "  Seven  Cities  of  Cevola" 85 

Central  Mexico 89 

The  great  Ruins  at  the  South 93 

V.MEXICO  AND  CENTRAL  AMERICA 103 

Palenque 104 

Copan  and  Quiragua Ill 

Mitla 117 

An  Astronomical  Monument 122 

Ruins  farther  South 123 

The  Ruins  in  Yucatan 125 

Mayapan 127 

Uxmal 131 

Kabah 137 

Chichen-Itza 140 

Other  Ruins 144 

VI.  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  RUINS 151 

Distinct  Eras  traced 155 

Nothing  perishable  left 156 

"  The  Oldest  of  Civilizations" 159 

American  Cities  seen  by  Tyrians 161 

A  2 


x  Contents. 

Page 

VII.  WHENCE  CAME  THIS  CIVILIZATION? 165 

The  "  Lost  Tribes  of  Israel" 166 

The  "  Malay"  Theory 167 

The  Phoenician  Theory 171 

.  The  "Atlantic"  Theory 174 

It  was  an  original  Civilization 184 

VIII.  AMERICAN  ANCIENT  HISTORY 187 

The  Old  Books  not  all  lost , .  189 

The  Ancient  History  sketched 197 

The  Toltecs  our  Mound-Builders 200 

Some  confirmation  of  the  History 205 

*X.  THE  AZTEC  CIVILIZATION 207 

The  Discovery  and  Invasion 209 

The  City  of  Mexico 211 

The  Conquest 213 

Who  were  the  Aztecs  ? 216 

They  came  from  the  South 217 

Z.  ANCIENT  PERU 222 

The  Spanish  Hunt  for  Peru 223 

The  Ruins  near  Lake  Titicaca 226 

Other  Ruins  in  Peru  . , 237 

The  great  Peruvian  Roads 243 

The  Peruvian  Civilization 246 

XL  PERUVIAN  ANCIENT  HISTORY. 257 

Garcilasso's  History 258 

Fernando  Montesinos 261 

His  Scheme  of  Peruvian  History 264 

Probabilities 268 

Conclusion 272 

APPENDIX 277 

A.  The  Northmen  in  America 279 

B.  The  Welsh  in  America .285 

C.  Antiquities  of  the  Pacific  Islands 288 

D.  Deciphering  the  Inscriptions 293 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 

1.  Gateway  at  Labna Frontispiece. 

2.  Great  Mound  near  Miamisburg. 16 

3.  Square  Mound  near  Marietta 18 

4.  Works  at  Cedar  Bank,  Ohio 19 

5.  Works  in  Washington  County,  Mississippi 20 

6.  Works  at  Hopeton,  Ohio 22 

7.  Principal  Figures  of  the  Hopeton  Works 23 

8.  Graded  Way  near  Piketon,  Ohio 25 

9.  Great  Serpent  Inclosure 29 

10.  Fortified  Hill,  Butler  County,  Ohio 30 

11.  Stone-work  in  Paint  Creek  Valley,  Ohio 35 

12.  Work  on  North  Fork  of  Paint  Creek 36 

13.  Ancient  Work,  Pike  County,  Ohio 38 

14.  Work  near  Brownsville,  Ohio 38 

15.  Works  near  Liberty,  Ohio 39 

16.  Work  in  Randolph  County,  Indiana 40 

-,  Q    <•  Vases  from  the  Mounds ...  41 

18.  j 

19.  Ancient  Mining  Shaft 45 

20.  Pueblo  Ruin  at  Pccos 80 

21.  Modern  Zuni 81 

22.  Ruins  in  the  Valley  of  the  Gila 83 

23.  Pueblo  Building  restored 87 

24.  Ground  Plan  of  the  Building 88 

25.  Arch  of  Los  Monjas,  Uxmal 98 

26.  Arch  most  common  in  the  Ruins 100 

27.  Casa  No.  1,  Palenque 107 

28.  Casa  No.  2  (La  Cruz),  Palenque 108 

29.  Great  Wall  at  Copan 112 

30.  Ruins  at  Mitla 116 

31.  Great  Hall  at  Mitla 118 

32.  A  ruined  "  Palace"  at  Mitla 119 

33.  Mosaic  Decoration  at  Mitla 120 

34.  Great  Mound  at  Mayapan 127 

35.  Circular  Edifice  at  Mayapan 129 

86.  Casa  del  Gobernador,  Uxmal 132 

37.  Ground  Plan 132 

88.  Two-headed  Figure  at  Uxmal 133 


xii  List  of  Illustrations. 

Pago 

39.  Decorations  over  Doorway,  Uxmal 134 

40.  Ground  Plan  of  Las  Monjas,  Uxmal 136 

41.  Ruined  Arch  at  Kabah 139 

42.  Casa  Colorada,  Chichen-Itza 141 

43.  Great  Stone  Ring 143 

44.  Great  Mound  at  Xcoch 145 

45.  Bottom  of  an  Aguada 146 

46.  Subterranean  Reservoir 147 

47.  Plan  of  the  Walls  of  Tuloom 148 

48.  Watch-tower  at  Tuloom 149 

49.  Specimen  of  Inscriptions  on  Stone - 190 

50.  Specimen  of  the  Manuscript  Writing 1OT 

51.  Ancient  Masonry  at  Cuzco 227 

52.  Ruins  of  a  "  Temple"  on  the  Island  of  Titicaca 228 

53.  Ruin  on  the  Island  of  Titicaca 229 

54.  Ruin  on  the  Island  of  Coati 231 

55.  Monolithic  Gateway  at  Tiahuanaco 233 

56.  Remains  of  Fortress  Walls  at  Cuzco 234 

57.  End  View  of  Fortress  Walls  at  Cuzco 235 

58.  End  View  of  Walls  at  Gran-Chimu 238 

60'   j-  Decorations  at  Chimu-Canclm 238 

61.  Edifice  at  Old  Huanuco 239 

62.  Ground  Plan  of  the  Edifice 240 

63.  "  Look-out"  at  Old  Huanuco 240 

64.  Ruins  at  Pachacamac 243 

65.  Peruvian  Copper  Knives 249 

66.  Copper  Tweezers 249 

67.  Golden  Vase  of  Ancient  Peru 251 

68.  Ancient  Peruvian  Silver  Vase 251 

69.  Ancient  Peruvian  Pottery 253 

70.  Ancient  Peruvian  Pottery 253 


ANCIENT  AMERICA. 


i. 

THE  MOUND-BUILDERS. 

ONE  of  the  most  learned  writers  on  American  antiqui 
ties,  a  Frenchman,  speaking  of  discoveries  in  Peru,  ex 
claims,  "America  is  to  be  again  discovered !  We  must 
remove  the  veil  in  which  Spanish  politics  has  sought  to 
bury  its  ancient  civilization !"  In  this  case,  quite  as 
much  is  due  to  the  ignorance,  indifference,  unscrupulous 
greed,  and  religious  fanaticism  of  the  Spaniards,  as  to 
Spanish  politics.  The  gold-hunting  marauders  who  sub 
jugated  Mexico  and  Peru  could  be  robbers  and  destroy 
ers,  but  they  were  not  qualified  in  any  respect  to  become 
intelligent  students  of  American  antiquity.  What  a  se 
lect  company  of  investigators,  such  as  could  be  organized 
in  our  time,  might  have  done  in  Mexico  and  Central 
America,  for  instance,  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
is  easily  understood.  In  what  they  did,  and  in  what  they 
failed  to  do,  the  Spaniards  who  went  there  acted  in  strict 
accordance  with  such  character  as  they  had  ;  and  yet  we 


14  Ancient  America. 

are  not  wholly  without  obligation  to  some  of  the  more 
intelligent  Spaniards  connected  with  the  Conquest 

There  are  existing  monuments  of  an  American  ancient 
history  which  invite  study,  and  most  of  which  might, 
doubtless,  have  been  studied  more  successfully  in  the  first 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  before  nearly  all  the  old 
books  of  Central  America  had  been  destroyed  by  Span 
ish  fanaticism,  than  at  present.  Remains  of  ancient  civ 
ilizations,  differing  to  some  extent  in  degree  and  charac 
ter,  are  found  in  three  great  sections  of  the  American 
continent :  the  wrest  side  of  South  America,  between 
Chili  and  the  first  or  second  degree  of  north  latitude ; 
Central  America  and  Mexico;  and  the  valleys  of  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Ohio.  These  regions  have  all  been 
explored  to  some  extent — not  completely,  but  sufficiently 
to  show  the  significance  and  importance  of  their  archaeo 
logical  remains,  most  of  which  were  already  mysterious 
antiquities  wrhen  the  continent  was  discovered  by  Colum 
bus.  I  propose  to  give  some  account  of  these  antiqui 
ties,  not  for  the  edification  of  those  already  learned  in 
American  archaeology,  but  for  general  readers  wTho  have 
not  made  the  subject  a  study.  My  sketches  will  begin 
with  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  regions  connected 
with  it. 

THE   MOUND-BTJILDEES THEIK   WOEKS. 

An  ancient  and  unknown  people  left  remains  of  set 
tled  life,  and  of  a  certain  degree  of  civilization,  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries.  We  have 
no  authentic  name  for  them  either  as  a  nation  or  a  race ; 


The  Mound-Builders.  17 

therefore  they  are  called  "  Mound-Builders,"  this  name 
having  been  suggested  by  an  important  class  of  their 
works. 

Prominent  among  the  remains  by  which  we  know  that 
such  a  people  once  inhabited  that  region  are  artificial 
mounds  constructed  with  intelligence  and  great  labor. 
Most  of  them  are  terraced  and  truncated  pyramids.  In 
shape  they  are  usually  square  or  rectangular,  but  some 
times  hexagonal  or  octagonal,  and  the  higher  mounds 
appear  to  have  been  constructed  with  winding  stairways 
on  the  outside  leading  to  their  summits.  Many  of  these 
structures  have  a  close  resemblance  to  the  teocallis  of 
Mexico.  They  differ  considerably  in  size.  The  great 
mound  at  Grave  Creek,  West  Virginia,  is  70  feet  high 
and  1000  feet  in  circumference  at  the  base.  A  mound 
in  Miamisburg,  Ohio,  is  68  feet  high  and  852  feet  in  cir 
cumference.  The  great  truncated  pyramid  at  Cahokia, 
Illinois,  is  700  feet  long,  500  wide,  and  90  in  height. 
Generally,  however,  these  mounds  range  from  6  to  30 
feet  high.  In  the  lower  valley  of  the  Mississippi  they 
are  usually  larger  in  horizontal  extent,  with  less  eleva 
tion. 

Figure  2  represents  the  great  mound  near  Miamisburg, 
Ohio,  which  may  be  compared  with  a  similar  structure 
at  Mayapan, Yucatan  (Fig.  34).  Figure  3  shows  a  square 
mound  near  Marietta,  Ohio. 

There  have  been  a  great  many  conjectures  in  regard 
to  the  purposes  for  which  these  mounds  were  built,  some 
of  them  rather  fanciful.  I  find  it  most  reasonable  to  be 
lieve  that  the  mounds  in  this  part  of  the  continent  were 


18 


Ancient  America. 


Fig.  3. — Square  Mound,  near  Marietta. 

used  precisely  as  similar  structures  were  used  in  Mexico 
and  Central  America.  The  lower  mounds,  or  most  of 
them,  must  have  been  constructed  as  foundations  of  the 
more  important  edifices  of  the  mound-building  people. 
Many  of  the  great  buildings  erected  on  such  pyramidal 
foundations,  at  Palenque,  IJxmal,  and  elsewhere  in  that 
region,  have  not  disappeared,  because  they  were  built  of 
hewn  stone  laid  in  mortar.  For  reasons  not  difficult  to 
understand,  the  Mound-Builders,  beginning  their  works 
on  the  lower  Mississippi,  constructed  such  edifices  of 
wood  or  some  other  perishable  material ;  therefore  not  a 
trace  of  them  remains.  The  higher  mounds,  with  broad, 
flat  summits,  reached  by  flights  of  steps  on  the  outside, 
are  like  the  Mexican  teocaUis,  or  temples.  In  Mexico 
and  Central  America  these  structures  were  very  numer 
ous.  They  are  described  as  solid  pyramidal  masses  of 
earth,  cased  with  brick  or  stone,  level  at  the  top,  and  fur- 


The  Mound- Builders. 


19 


nished  with  ascending  ranges  of  steps  on  the  outside. 
The  resemblance  is  striking,  and  the  most  reasonable  ex 
planation  seems  to  be  that  in  both  regions  mounds  of 
this  class'  were  intended  for  the  same  uses.  Figure  4 


Fig.  4.— Works  at  Cedar  Bank,  Ohio. 

shows  the  works  at  Cedar  Bank,  Ohio,  inclosing  a  mound. 
The  mound  within  the  inclosure  is  245  feet  long  by  150 
broad.  Figure  5  shows  a  group  of  mounds  in  Washing 
ton  County,  Mississippi,  some  of  which  are  connected  by 
means  of  causeways. 

Another  class  of  these  antiquities  consists  of  inclosures 
formed  by  heavy   embankments    of   earth   and   stone. 


20 


Ancient  America. 


JSP* 


Fig.  5. — Works  in  Washington  County,  Mississippi. 

There  is  nothing  to  explain  these  constructions  so  clear 
ly  as  to  leave  no  room  for  conjecture  and  speculation, 
It  has  been  suggested  that  some  of  them  may  have  been 
intended  for  defense,  others  for  religious  purposes.  A 
portion  of  them,  it  may  be,  encircled  villages  or  towns. 
In  some  cases  the  ditches  or  fosses  were  on  the  inside,  in 
others  on  the  outside.  But  no  one  can  fully  explain 
why  they  were  made.  We  know  only  that  they  were 


The  Mound-Builders. 


23 


prepared  intelligently,  with  great  labor,  for  human  uses. 
"Lines  of  embankment  varying  from  5  to  30  feet  in 
height,  and  inclosing  from  1  to  50  acres,  are  very  com 
mon,  while  inclosures  containing  from  100  to  200  acres 
are  not  infrequent,  and  occasional  works  are  found  in 
closing  as  many  as  400  acres."  Figures  6  and  7  give 
views  of  the  Hopeton  works,  four  miles  north  of  Chilli- 
cothe,  Ohio.  Combinations  of  the  square  and  circle  are 


SCALE  __^=- 

7ooJl.la2Iiu 

Fig.  7.— Principal  Figures  of  the  Hopeton  Works. 


24  Ancient  America. 

common  in  these  ancient  works,  and  the  figures  are  al 
ways  perfect.  This  perfection  of  the  figures  proves,  as 
Squier  and  Davis  remark,  that  "  the  builders  possessed  a 
standard  of  measurement,  and  had  a  means  of  determin 
ing  angles." 

About  100  inclosures  and  500  mounds  have  been  ex 
amined  in  Ross  County,  Ohio.  The  number  of  mounds 
in  the  whole  state  is  estimated  at  over  10,000,  and  the 
number  of  inclosures  at  more  than  1500.  The  great 
number  of  these  ancient  remains  in  the  regions  occupied 
by  the  Mound-Builders  is  really  surprising.  They  are 
more  numerous  in  the  regions  on  the  lower  Mississippi 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  than  any  where  else ;  and  here, 
in  some  cases,  sun-dried  brick  was  used  in  the  embank 
ments. 

One  peculiarity  at  the  South  is,  that  while  the  inclos 
ures  are  generally  smaller  and  comparatively  less  numer 
ous,  there  is  a  greater  proportion  of  low  mounds,  and 
these  are  often  larger  in  extent.  Harrison  Mound,  in 
South  Carolina,  is  480  feet  in  circumference  and  15  feet 
high.  Another  is  described  as  500  feet  in  circumference 
at  the  base,  225  at  the  summit,  and  34  feet  high.  In  a 
small  mound  near  this,  which  was  opened,  there  was 
found  "  an  urn  holding  46  quarts,"  and  also  a  considera 
ble  deposit  of  beads  and  shell  ornaments  very  much  de 
composed.  Broad  terraces  of  various  heights,  mounds 
with  several  stages,  elevated  passages,  and  long  avenues, 
and  aguadas  or  artificial  ponds,  are  common  at  the 
South.  Figure  8  shows  the  remains  of  a  graded  way  of 
this  ancient  people  near  Piketon,  Ohio. 


The  Mound- Builders.  27 

At  Seltzertown,  Mississippi,  there  is  a  mound  600  feet 
long,  400  wide,  and  40  feet  high.  The  area  of  its  level 
summit  measures  4  acres.  There  was  a  ditch  around  it, 
and  near  it  are  smaller  mounds.  Mr.  J.  R.  Bartlett  says, 
on  the  authority  of  Dr.  M.W.  Dickeson, "  The  north  side 
of  this  mound  is  supported  by  a  wall  of  sun-dried  brick 
two  feet  thick,  filled  with  grass,  rushes,  and  leaves."  Dr. 
Dickeson  mentions  angular  tumuli,  with  corners  "  still 
quite  perfect,"  and  "  formed  of  large  bricks  bearing  the 
impression  of  human  hands."  In  Louisiana,  near  the 
Trinity,  there  is  a  great  inclosure  partially  faced  with 
sun-dried  bricks  of  large  size ;  and  in  this  neighborhood 
ditches  and  artificial  ponds  have  been  examined.  In  the 
Southern  States  these  works  appear  to  assume  a  closer 
resemblance  to  the  mound  work  of  Central  America. 

The  result  of  intelligent  exploration  and  study  of  these 
antiquities  is  stated  as  follows :  "  Although  possessing 
throughout  certain  general  points  of  resemblance  going 
to  establish  a  kindred  origin,  these  works  nevertheless  re 
solve  themselves  into  three  grand  geographical  divisions, 
which  present  in  many  respects  striking  contrasts,  yet  so 
gradually  merge  into  each  other  that  it  is  impossible  to 
determine  where  one  series  terminates  and  another  be 
gins."  On  the  upper  lakes,  and  to  a  certain  extent  in 
Michigan,  Iowa,  and  Missouri,  but  particularly  in  Wis 
consin,  the  outlines  of  the  inclosures  (elsewhere  more 
regular  in  form)  were  designed  in  the  forms  of  animals, 
birds,  serpents,  and  even  men,  appearing  on  the  surface 
of  the  country  like  huge  relievos.  The  embankment  of 
an  irregular  inclosure  in  Adams  County,  Ohio,  is  de- 


28  Ancient  America. 

scribed  as  follows  by  Squier  and  Davis,  Mr.  Squier  hav 
ing  made  the  drawing  of  it  for  the  work  published  by 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  : 

"  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  serpent,  upward  of  1000  feet 
in  length,  extended  in  graceful  curves,  and  terminating 
in  a  triple  coil  at  the  tail.  The  embankment  constitut 
ing  this  figure  is  more  than  5  feet  high,  with  a  base  30 
feet  wide  at  the  centre  of  the  body,  diminishing  some 
what  toward  the  head  and  tail.  The  neck  of  the  figure 
is  stretched  out  and  slightly  curved.  The  mouth  is  wide 
open,  and  seems  in  the  act  of  swallowing  or  ejecting  an 
oval  figure  which  rests  partly  within  the  distended  jaws. 
This  oval  is  formed  by  an  embankment  4  feet  high,  and 
is  perfectly  regular  in  outline,  its  transverse  and  conju 
gate  diameters  being  respectively  160  and  80  feet.  The 
combined  figure  has  been  regarded  as  a  symbolical  illus 
tration  of  the  Oriental  cosmological  idea  of  the  serpent 
and  the  egg ;  but,  however  this  may  be,  little  doubt  can 
exist  of  the  symbolical  character  of  the  monument." 

Figure  9  gives  a  view  of  this  work. 

No  symbolic  device  is  more  common  among  the  an 
tiquities  of  Mexico  and  Central  America  than  the  form 
of  the  serpent,  and  it  was  sometimes  reproduced  in  part 
in  architectural  constructions.  One  of  the  old  books, 
giving  account  of  a  temple  dedicated  to  Quetzal cohuatl, 
says, "  It  was  circular  in  form,  and  the  entrance  repre 
sented  the  mouth  of  a  serpent,  opened  in  a  frightful 
manner,  and  extremely  terrifying  to  those  who  approach^ 
ed  it  for  the  first  time." 

On  the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries,  and  farther  south, 


The  Mound- Builders. 


Fig.  9.— Great  Serpent,  Adams  County,  Ohio. 


where  the  mounds  are  numerous,  the  inclosnres  have 
more  regular  forms ;  and  in  the  Ohio  Valley  very  often 
their  great  extent  has  incited  speculation.  At  Newark, 
Ohio,  when  first  discovered,  they  were  spread  over  an 
area  more  than  two  miles  square,  and  still  showed  more 
than  twelve  miles  of  embankment  from  two  to  twenty 
feet  high.  Farther  south,  as  already  stated,  the  inclo&- 


30 


Ancient  America. 


ures  are  fewer  and  smaller,  or,  to  speak  more  exactly, 
the  great  inclosures  and  high  mounds  are  much  less  com 
mon  than  low  truncated  pyramids,  and  pyramidal  plat 
forms  or  foundations  with  dependent  works.  Passing 
up  the  valley,  it  is  found  that  Marietta,  Newark,  Ports- 


SCAU 

SSOft.lzlIn. 


Fig.  10 — Fortified  Hill,  Butler  County,  OUo. 


The  Mound-Builders.  31 

mouth,  Chillicothe,  Circle ville,  Ohio ;  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
and  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  were  favorite  seats  of  the 
Mound-Builders.  This  leads  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
investigators  to  remark  that  "  the  centres  of  population 
are  now  where  they  were  when  the  mysterious  race  of 
Mound-Builders  existed."  There  is,  however,  this  differ 
ence  :  the  remains  indicate  that  their  most  populous  and 
advanced  communities  were  at  the  South.  Figure  10 
shows  a  fortified  hill  in  Butler  County,  Ohio. 

Among  those  who  have  examined  and  described  re 
mains  of  the  Mound-Builders,  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis 
rank  first  in  importance,  because  they  have  done  most  to 
give  a  particular  and  comprehensive  account  of  them. 
Their  great  work,  published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institu 
tion,  must  be  regarded  as  the  highest  authority,  and 
those  who  desire  to  study  the  whole  subject  more  in  de 
tail  will  find  that  work  indispensable. 

EXTENT    OF    TIIEIE    SETTLEMENTS. 

Careful  study  of  what  is  shown  in  the  many  reports 
on  these  ancient  remains  seems  plainly  to  authorize  the 
conclusion  that  the  Mound-Builders  entered  the  country 
at  the  South,  and  began  their  settlements  near  the  Gulf. 
Here  they  must  have  been  very  numerous,  while  their 
works  at  every  point  on  the  limit  of  their  distribution, 
north,  east,  and  west,  indicate  a  much  less  numerous 
border  population.  Remains  of  their  works  have  been 
traced  through  a  great  extent  of  country.  They  are 
found  in  West  Virginia,  and  are  spread  through  Michi- 
gan,Wisconsin,  and  Iowa  to  Nebraska.  Lewis  and  Clarke 


32  Ancient  America. 

reported  seeing  them  on  the  Missouri  River,  a  thousand 
miles  above  its  junction  with  the  Mississippi ;  but  this  re 
port  has  not  been  satisfactorily  verified.  They  have  been 
observed  on  the  Kansas,  Platte,  and  other  remote  Western 
rivers,  it  is  said.  They  are  found  all  over  the  intermedi 
ate  and  the  more  southern  country,  being  most  numerous 
in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama, 
Georgia,  Florida,  and  Texas. 

This  ancient  race  seems  to  have  occupied  nearly  the 
whole  basin  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  with 
the  fertile  plains  along  the  Gulf,  and  their  settlements 
were  continued  across  the  Rio  Grande  into  Mexico ;  but 
toward  their  eastern,  northern,  and  western  limit  the  pop 
ulation  was  evidently  smaller,  and  their  occupation  of 
the  territory  less  complete  than  in  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio, 
and  from  that  point  down  to  the  Gulf.  No  other  united 
people  previous  to  our  time  can  be  supposed  to  have  oc 
cupied  so  large  an  extent  of  territory  in  this  part  of 
North  America. 

It  has  heretofore  been  stated  that  remains  of  this  peo 
ple  exist  in  Western  New  York,  but  a  more  intelligent 
and  careful  examination  shows  that  the  works  in  West 
ern  New  York  are  not  remains  of  the  Mound-Builders. 
This  is  now  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Squier,  formed  on  per 
sonal  investigation  since  the  great  work  of  Squier  and 
Davis  was  published. 


The  Mound-Builders.  33 


THEIE    CIVILIZATION. 

It  is  usual  to  rank  the  civilized  life  of  the  Mound- 
Builders  much  below  that  of  the  ancient  people  of  Mex 
ico  and  Central  America.  This  may  be  correct,  for  the 
remains  as  they  now  exist  appear  to  justify  it.  But  if 
all  the  ancient  stone- work  in  Central  America,  with  its 
finely-carved  inscriptions  and  wonderful  decorations,  had 
disappeared  in  the  ages  before  Europeans  visited  this 
continent,  the  difference  might  not  appear  to  be  so  great ; 
for  then  the  Central  American  remains,  consisting  only 
of  earth -works,  truncated  pyramids,  pyramidal  founda 
tions,  and  their  connected  works  made  of  earth,  would 
have  a  closer  resemblance  to  works  of  the  Mound-Build 
ers,  to  those  especially  found  on  the  lower  Mississippi. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  we  now  had  in  the  Ohio  and  Mis 
sissippi  Valleys  remains  of  the  more  important  edifices 
anciently  constructed  there,  the  Mound-Builders  might 
be  placed  considerably  higher  in  the  scale  of  civilization 
than  it  has  been  customary  to  allow. 

It  can  be  seen,  without  long  study  of  their  works  as 
we  know  them,  that  the  Mound -Builders  had  a  certain 
degree  of  civilization  which  raised  them  far  above  the 
condition  of  savages.  To  make  such  works  possible  un 
der  any  circumstances,  there  must  be  settled  life,  with 
its  accumulations  and  intelligently  organized  industry. 
Fixed  habits  of  useful  work,  directed  by  intelligence,  are 
what  barbarous  tribes  lack  most  of  all.  A  profound 
change  in  this  respect  is  indispensable  to  the  beginning 
of  civilization  in  such  tribes. 

B2 


34:  Ancient  America. 

No  savage  tribe  found  here  by  Europeans  could  have 
undertaken  such  constructions  as  those  of  the  Mound- 
Builders.  The  wild  Indians  found  in  North  America 
lived  rudely  in  tribes.  They  had  only  such  organization 
as  was  required  by  their  nomadic  habits,  and  their  meth 
ods  of  hunting  and  fighting.  These  barbarous  Indians 
gave  no  sign  of  being  capable  of  the  systematic  applica 
tion  to  useful  industry  which  promotes  intelligence,  ele 
vates  the  condition  of  life,  accumulates  wealth,  and  un 
dertakes  great  works.  This  condition  of  industry,  of 
which  the  worn  and  decayed  works  of  the  Mound-Build 
ers  are  unmistakable  monuments,  means  civilization. 

Albert  Gallatin,  who  gave  considerable  attention  to 
their  remains,  thought  their  works  indicated  not  only  "  a 
dense  agricultural  population,"  but  also  a  state  of  society 
essentially  different  from  that  of  the  Iroquois  and  Al 
gonquin  Indians.  He  was  sure  that  the  people  who  es 
tablished  such  settlements  and  built  such  works  must 
have  been  "  eminently  agricultural."  No  trace  of  their 
ordinary  dwellings  is  left.  These  must  have  been  con 
structed  of  perishable  materials,  which  went  to  dust  long 
before  great  forests  had  again  covered  most  of  the  re 
gions  through  which  they  were  scattered.  Doubtless 
their  dwellings  and  other  edifices  were  made  of  wood, 
and  they  must  have  been  numerous.  It  is  abundantly 
evident  that  there  were  large  towns  at  such  places  as 
Newark,  Circleville,  and  Marietta,  in  Ohio.  Figures  11 
and  12  give  views  of  works  on  Paint  Creek,  Ohio. 

Their  agricultural  products  may  have  been  similar  to 
many  of  those  found  in  Mexico ;  and  it  is  not  improb- 


The  Mound- Builders. 


35 


Pig.  11.— Stone-work  in  Paint  Creek  Valley,  Ohio. 

able  that  the  barbarous  Indians,  who  afterward  occupied 
the  country,  learned  from  them  the  cultivation  of  maize. 
Their  unity  as  a  people,  which  is  every  where  so  mani 
fest,  must  have  been  expressed  in  political  organization, 
else  it  could  not  have  been  maintained. 


36 


Ancient  America, 


\ 


Fig.  12.— Work  on  North  Fork  of  Paint  Creek. 

In  the  details  of  their  works,  and  in  manufactured  ar 
ticles  taken  from  the  mounds,  there  is  evidence  of  con 
siderable  civilization.  For  instance,  it  has  been  ascer- 


Fig.  13.— Ancient  Work,  Pike  County,  Ohio. 


Fig.  14.— Elliptical  Work  near  Brownsville,  Ohio. 


The  Mound-Builders. 


39 


tained  that  the  circular  inclosures  are  perfect  circles,  and 
the  square  inclosures  perfect  squares.  They  were  con 
structed  with  a  geometrical  precision  which  implies  a 
kind  of  knowledge  in  the  builders  that  may  be  called 
scientific.  Figures  13, 14, 15,16  show  some  of  the  more 


""*     °     ' 


«v    ip^lr 

o^o'o*    ?2*\*>  cPf 


Fig.  15.— Works  near  Liberty,  Ohio. 


Ancient  America. 


Fig.  16.— Rectangular  Work,  Randolph  County,  Indiana. 

important  works  of  the  Mound-Builders,  chiefly  in  Ohio. 
Relics  of  art  have  been  dug  from  some  of  the  mounds, 
consisting  of  a  considerable  variety  of  ornaments  and 
implements,  made  of  copper,  silver,  obsidian,  porphyry, 
and  greenstone,  finely  wrought.  There  are  axes,  single 
and  double  ;  adzes,  chisels,  drills  or  gravers,  lance-heads, 
knives,  bracelets,  pendants,  beads,  and  the  like,  made  of 
copper.  There  are  articles  of  pottery,  elegantly  design 
ed  and  finished ;  ornaments  made  of  silver,  bone,  mica 
from  the  Alleghanies,  and  shells  from  the  Gulf  of  Mex 
ico. 

The  articles  made  of  stone  show  fine  workmanship; 
some  of  them  are  elaborately  carved.     Tools  of  some 


The  Mound- Builders.  41 

very  hard  material  must  have  been  required  to  work  the 
porphyry  in  this  manner.  Obsidian  is  a  volcanic  prod 
uct  largely  used  by  the  ancient  Mexicans  and  Peruvians 
for  arms  and  cutting  instruments.  It  is  found  in  its 
natural  state  nowhere  nearer  the  Mississippi  Valley  than 
the  Mexican  mountains  of  Cerro  Gordo. 

There  appears  to  be  evidence  that  the  Mound-Builders 
had  the  art  of  spinning  and  weaving,  for  cloth  has  been 
found  among  their  remains.  At  the  meeting  of  the  In 
ternational  Congress  of  Pre-IIistoric  Archaeology  held  at 
Norwich,  England,  in  1868,  one  of  the  speakers  stated 
this  fact  as  follows  :  "  Fragments  of  charred  cloth  made 
of  spun  fibres  have  been  found  in  the  mounds.  A  speci 
men  of  such  cloth,  taken  from  a  mound  in  Butler  Coun 
ty,  Ohio,  is  in  Blackmore  Museum,  Salisbury.  In  the 
same  collection  are  several  lumps  of  burnt  clay  which 
formed  part  of  the  '  altar,'  so  called,  in  a  mound  in  Ross 
County,  Ohio :  to  this  clay  a  few  charred  threads  are 
still  attached."  Figures  17 
and  18  represent  specimens 
of  vases  taken  from  the 
mounds. 


Figs.  17, 18.— Vases  from  the  Mounds. 


4:2  Ancient  America. 

Mr.  Sclioolcraf t  gives  this  account  of  a  discovery  made 
in  West  Virginia  :  "Antique  tube :  telescopic  device.  In 
the  course  of  excavations  made  in  1842  in  the  eastern 
most  of  the  three  mounds  of  the  Elizabethtown  group, 
several  tubes  of  stone  were  disclosed,  the  precise  object 
of  which  has  been  the  subject  of  various  opinions, 
The  longest  measured  twelve  inches,  the  shortest  eight. 
Three  of  them  were  carved  out  of  steatite,  being  skill 
fully  cut  and  polished.  The  diameter  of  the  tube  ex 
ternally  was  one  inch  and  four  tenths ;  the  bore,  eight 
tenths  of  an  inch.  This  calibre  was  continued  till  with 
in  three  eighths  of  an  inch  of  the  sight  end,  when  it  di 
minishes  to  two  tenths  of  an  inch.  By  placing  the  eye  at 
the  diminished  end,  the  extraneous  light  is  shut  from  the 
pupil,  and  distant  objects  are  more  clearly  discerned." 

He  points  out  that  the  carving  and  workmanship  gen 
erally  are  very  superior  to  Indian  pipe  carvings,  and 
adds,  if  this  article  was  a  work  of  the  Mound-Builders 
"  intended  for  a  telescopic  tube,  it  is  a  most  interesting 
relic."  An  ancient  Peruvian  relic,  found  a  few  years 
since,  shows  the  figure  of  a  man  wrought  in  silver,  in 
the  act  of  studying  the  heavens  through  such  a  tube. 
Similar  tubes  have  been  found  among  relics  of  the 
Mound -Builders  in  Ohio  and  elsewhere.  In  Mexico, 
Captain  Dupaix  saw  sculptured  on  a  peculiar  stone 
structure  the  figure  of  a  man  making  use  of  one.  Astro 
nomical  devices  were  sculptured  below  the  figure.  This 
structure  he  supposed  to  have  been  used  for  observation 
of  the  stars.  His  account  of  it  will  be  given  in  the 
chapter  on  Mexican  and  Central  American  ruins. 


The  Mound-builders.  43 

The  Mound-Builders  used  large  quantities  of  copper 
such  as  that  taken  from  the  copper  beds  on  Lake  Supe 
rior,  where  the  extensive  mines  yield  copper,  not  in  the 
ore,  but  as  pure  metal.  It  exists  in  those  beds  in  im 
mense  masses,  in  small  veins,  and  in  separated  lumps  of 
various  sizes.  The  Mound-Builders  worked  this  copper 
without  smelting  it.  Spots  of  pure  silver  are  frequently 
found  studding  the  surface  of  Lake  Superior  copper, 
and  appearing  as  if  welded  to  it,  but  not  alloyed  with  it. 
No  other  copper  has  this  peculiarity;  but  copper  with 
similar  blotches  of  silver  has  been  dug  from  the  mounds. 
It  was  naturally  inferred  from  this  fact  that  the  ancient 
people  represented  by  these  antiquities  had  some  knowl 
edge  of  the  art  of  mining  copper  which  had  been  used 
in  the  copper  region  of  Lake  Superior.  This  inference 
finally  became  an  ascertained  fact. 

THEIR   ANCIENT   MINING    WORKS. 

Remains  of  their  mining  works  were  first  discovered 
in  1848  by  Mr.  S.  O.  Knapp,  agent  of  the  Minnesota  Min 
ing  Company,  and  in  1849  they  were  described  by  Dr. 
Charles  T.  Jackson,  in  his  geological  report  to  the  na 
tional  government.  Those  described  were  found  at  the 
Minnesota  mine,  in  upper  Michigan,  near  Lake  Superior. 
Their  mining  was  chiefly  surface  work ;  that  is  to  say, 
they  worked  the  surface  of  the  veins  in  open  pits  and 
trenches.  At  the  Minnesota  mine,  the  greatest  depth  of 
their  excavations  was  thirty  feet ;  and  here, "  not  far  be 
low  the  bottom  of  a  trough-like  cavity,  among  a  mass  of 
leaves,  sticks,  and  water,  Mr.  Knapp  discovered  a  de- 


4:4  Ancient  America. 

tached  mass  of  copper  weighing  nearly  six  tons.  It  lay 
upon  a  cob-work  of  round  logs  or  skids  six  or  eight  inch 
es  in  diameter,  the  ends  of  which  showed  plainly  the 
marks  of  a  small  axe  or  cutting  tool  about  two  and  a 
half  inches  wide.  They  soon  shriveled  and  decayed 
when  exposed  to  the  air.  The  mass  of  copper  had  been 
raised  several  feet,  along  the  foot  of  the  lode,  on  tim 
bers,  by  means  of  wedges."  At  this  place  was  found  a 
stone  maul  weighing  thirty-six  pounds,  and  also  a  cop 
per  maul  or  sledge  weighing  twenty-five  pounds.  Old 
trees  showing  395  rings  of  annual  growth  stood  in  the 
debris,  and  "  the  fallen  and  decayed  trunks  of  trees  of  a 
former  generation  were  seen  lying  across  the  pits."  Fig 
ure  19  (opposite)  presents  a  section  of  this  mining  shaft 
of  the  Mound-Builders:  a  shows  the  mass  of  copper; 
b  the  bottom  of  the  shaft ;  c  the  earth  and  debris  which 
had  been  thrown  out.  The  dark  spots  are  masses  of 
copper. 

The  modern  mining  works  are  mostly  confined  to  that 
part  of  the  copper  region  known  as  Keweenaw  Point. 
This  is  a  projection  of  land  extending  into  Lake  Supe 
rior,  and  described  as  having  the  shape  of  an  immense 
horn.  It  is  about  eighty  miles  in  length,  and,  at  the 
place  where  it  joins  the  main  land,  about  forty-five  miles 
in  width.  All  through  this  district,  wherever  modern 
miners  have  worked,  remains  of  ancient  mining  works 
are  abundant ;  and  they  are  extensive  on  the  adjacent 
island,  known  as  Isle  Royale.  The  area  covered  by  the 
ancient  works  is  larger  than  that  which  includes  the 
modern  mines,  for  they  are  known  to  exist  in  the  dense 


The  Mound- Builders. 


45 


forests  of  other  districts,  to  which  the  modern  mining 
has  not  yet  been  extended. 

One  remarkable  mining  excavation  of  the  Mound- 
Builders  was  found  near  the  Waterbury  mine.  Here,  in 
the  face  of  a  vertical  bluff,  was  discovered  "  an  ancient, 
artificial,  cavern-like  recess,  twenty-five  feet  in  horizon- 


Fig.  19.—  Ancient  Mining  Shaft. 

tal  length,  fifteen  feet  high,  and  twelve  feet  deep.  In 
front  of  it  is  a  pile  of  excavated  rock  on  which  are 
standing,  in  full  size,  the  forest  trees  common  to  this  re 
gion."  Some  of  the  blocks  of  stone  removed  from  this 
recess  would  weigh  two  or  three  tons,  and  must  have  re 
quired  levers  to  get  them  out.  Beneath  the  surface  rub- 


4:6  Ancient  America. 

bish  were  the  remains  of  a  gutter  or  trough  made  of 
cedar,  placed  there  to  carry  off  water  from  the  mine. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  excavation  a  piece  of  white  cedar 
timber  was  found  on  which  were  the  marks  of  an  axe. 
Cedar  shovels,  mauls,  copper  gads  or  wedges,  charcoal, 
and  ashes  were  discovered,  over  which  "primeval"  for 
est  trees  had  grown  to  full  size. 

Modern  mining  on  Lake  Superior  began  effectively 
in  1845.  The  whole  copper  region  has  not  been  fully 
explored.  Works  of  the  ancient  miners  are  found  at  all 
the  mines  of  any  importance ;  and  they  show  remarka 
ble  skill  in  discovering  and  tracing  actual  veins  of  the 
metal.  Colonel  Charles  Whittlesey,  one  of  the  best  au 
thorities  on  this  point,  believes  the  Mound-Builders  work 
ed  the  copper-beds  of  that  region  during  "  a  great  length 
of  time,"  and  more  of  their  works  will  undoubtedly  be 
explored  when  the  forests  shall  be  cleared  away  from 
those  portions  of  the  copper  region  not  yet  worked  by 
modern  miners.  So  far  as  they  have  been  traced,  they 
every  where  show  the  same  methods,  the  same  imple 
ments,  and  the  same  peculiarities  of  both  knowledge  and 
lack  of  knowledge  in  the  old  miners. 


Antiquity  of  the  Mound-Builders. 


II. 

ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  MOUND-BUILDERS. 

THAT  the  Mound-Builders  and  their  works  belong  to  a 
distant  period  in  the  past  is  evident ;  but,  of  course,  we 
have  no  means  of  determining  their  antiquity  with  any 
approach  to  accuracy,  no  scheme  of  chronology  by  which 
their  distance  from  us  in  time  can  be  measured.  Never 
theless,  some  things  observed  in  their  remains  make  it 
certain  that  the  works  are  very  ancient. 

1.  One  fact  showing  this  is  pointed  out  by  those  who 
have  examined  them  carefully  as  follows :  None  of  these 
works  (mounds  and  inclosures)  occur  on  the  lowest-form 
ed  of  the  river  terraces,  which  mark  the  subsidence  of 
the  western  streams ;  and  as  there  is  no  good  reason  why 
their  builders  should  have  avoided  erecting  them  on  that 
terrace,  while  they  raised  them  promiscuously  on  all  the 
others,  it  follows,  not  unreasonably,  that  this  terrace  has 
been  formed  since  the  works  were  erected.  It  is  appa 
rent,  also,  that  in  some  cases  the  works  were  long  ago 
partly  destroyed  by  streams  which  have  since  receded 
more  than  half  a  mile,  and  at  present  could  not  reach 
them  under  any  circumstances.  Those  streams  general 
ly  show  four  successive  terraces,  which  mark  four  distinct 
eras  of  their  subsidence  since  they  began  to  flow  in  their 
present  courses.  The  fourth  terrace,  on  which  none  of 


48  Ancient  America. 

the  works  are  found,  marks  the  last  and  longest  of  these 
periods;  and  it  marks  also  the  time  since  the  Mound- 
Builders  ceased  to  occupy  the  river-valleys  where  it  was 
formed.  The  period  marked  by  this  fourth  terrace  must 
be  the  longest,  because  the  excavating  power  of  such 
streams  necessarily  diminishes  as  their  channels  grow 
deeper.  This  geological  change,  which  has  taken  place 
since  the  latest  of  the  mounds  and  inclosures  were  con 
structed,  shows  that  the  works  are  very  old ;  no  one  can 
tell  how  old.  To  count  the  years  is  impossible ;  but  we 
can  see  that  the  date,  if  found,  would  take  us  back  to  a 
remote  period  in  the  past. 

2.  Great  antiquity  is  indicated  by  the  skeletons  taken 
from  the  mounds.  Every  skeleton  of  a  Mound-Builder 
is  found  in  a  condition  of  extreme  decay.  It  sometimes 
appears  that  the  surface  of  a  mound  has  been  used  by 
the  wild  Indians  for  interments;  but  their  skeletons, 
which  are  always  found  well  preserved,  can  be  readily 
distinguished  by  their  position  in  the  mounds,  as  well  as 
by  other  peculiarities.  The  decayed  bones  of  Mound- 
Builders  are  invariably  found  within  the  mounds,  never 
on  the  surface,  usually  at  the  bottom  of  the  structure, 
and  nearly  always  "  in  such  a  state  of  decay  as  to  render 
all  attempts  to  restore  the  skull,  or,  indeed,  any  part  of 
the  skeleton,  entirely  hopeless."  Not  more  than  one  or 
two  skeletons  of  that  people  have  been  recovered  in  a 
condition  suitable  for  intelligent  examination.  It  is 
stated  in  the  work  of  Squier  and  Davis  that  the  only 
skull  belonging  incontestably  to  an  individual  of  the 
Mound-Building  race,  which  has  been  preserved  entire, 


Antiquity  of  the  Mound-Builders.  49 

was  taken  from  a  mound  situated  on  a  knoll  (itself  arti 
ficial  apparently)  on  the  summit  of  a  hill,  in  the  Scioto 
Yalley,  four  miles  below  Chillicothe. 

What,  save  time  itself,  can  have  brought  these  skele* 
tons  to  a  condition  in  which  they  fall  to  pieces  when 
touched,  and  are  ready  to  dissolve  and  become  dust? 
All  the  circumstances  attending  their  burial  were  unusu 
ally  favorable  for  their  preservation.  The  earth  around 
them  has  invariably  been  found  "  wonderfully  compact 
and  dry."  And  yet,  when  exhumed,  they  are  in  such 
a  decomposed  and  crumbling  condition  that  to  restore 
them  is  impossible.  Sound  and  well-preserved  skeletons, 
known  to  be  nearly  two  thousand  years  old,  have  been 
taken  from  burial-places  in  England,  and  other  European 
countries  less  favorable  for  preserving  them.  The  con 
dition  of  an  ancient  skeleton  can  not  be  used  as  an  accu 
rate  measure  of  time,  but  it  is  sufficiently  accurate  to 
show  the  difference  between  the  ancient  and  the  mod 
ern,  and  in  this  case  it  allows  us  to  assume  that  these 
extremely  decayed  skeletons  of  the  Mound-Builders  are 
much  more  than  two  thousand  years  old. 

Those  familiar  with  the  facts  established  by  geologists 
and  palaeontologists  are  aware  that  remains  of  human 
skeletons  have  been  discovered  in  deposits  of  the  "Age 
of  Stone"  in  Western  Europe ;  not  to  any  great  extent,  it 
is  true,  although  the  discoveries  are  sufficient  to  show 
that  fragments  of  skeletons  belonging  to  that  age  still 
exist.  It  is  not  without  reason,  therefore,  that  the  condi 
tion  of  decay  in  which  all  skeletons  of  the  Mound- 
Builders  are  exhumed  from  their  burial-places  is  consid- 

C 


50  Ancient  America. 

ered  a  proof  of  their  great  antiquity.  There  is  no  other 
explanation  which,  so  far  as  appears,  can  be  reasonably 
accepted. 

3.  The  great  age  of  these  mounds  and  inclosures  is 
shown  by  their  relation  to  the  primeval  forests  in  which 
most  of  them  were  discovered.  I  say  primeval  forests, 
because  they  seemed  primeval  to  the  first  white  men 
who  explored  them.  Of  course  there  were  no  unbroken 
forests  at  such  points  as  the  Ohio  Valley,  for  instance, 
while  they  were  occupied  by  the  Mound-Builders,  who 
were  a  settled  agricultural  people,  whose  civilized  indus 
try  is  attested  by  their  remains.  If  they  found  forests  in 
the  valleys  they  occupied,  these  were  cleared  away  to 
make  room  for  their  towns,  inclosures,  mounds,  and  cul 
tivated  fields ;  and  when,  after  many  ages  of  such  occu 
pation,  they  finally  left,  or  were  driven  away,  a  long  pe 
riod  must  have  elapsed  before  the  trees  began  to  grow 
freely  in  and  around  their  abandoned  works.  Moreover, 
observation  shows  that  the  trees  which  first  make  their 
appearance  in  such  deserted  places  are  not  regular  forest 
trees.  The  beginning  of  such  growths  as  will  cover 
them  with  great  forests  comes  later,  when  other  prelimi 
nary  growths  have  appeared  and  gone  to  decay. 

When  the  Ohio  Yalley  was  first  visited  by  Europeans 
it  was  covered  by  an  unbroken  forest,  most  of  the  trees 
being  of  great  age  and  size ;  and  it  was  manifest  that 
several  generations  of  great  forest  trees  had  preceded 
those  found  standing  in  the  soil.  The  mounds  and  in 
closures  were  discovered  in  this  forest,  with  great  trees 
growing  in  them.  Eight  hundred  rings  of  annual  growth 


Antiquity  of  the  Mound-Builders.  51 

were  counted  in  the  trunk  of  a  tree  mentioned  by  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  and  others,  which  was  found  growing  on  a 
mound  at  Marietta.  In  the  same  way,  successive  gener 
ations  of  forest  trees  had  grown  over  their  extensive 
mining  works  near  Lake  Superior,  and  many  of  those 
works  are  still  hidden  in  what  seem  to  be  primeval 
forests. 

General  Harrison  made  the  following  suggestion  in 
regard  to  the  establishment  of  these  forests  in  Ohio. 
When  the  individual  trees  that  first  got  possession  of  the 
soil  had  died  out  one  after  another,  they  would,  in  many 
cases,  be  succeeded  by  other  kinds,  till  at  last,  after  a 
great  number  of  centuries,  that  remarkable  diversity  of 
species  characteristic  of  North  America  would  be  estab 
lished.  His  suggestion,  the  result  of  practical  observa 
tion  and  study,  is  not  without  reason.  It  is  certain,  in 
any  case>  that  the  period  when  these  old  constructions 
were  deserted  is  so  far  back  in  the  past,  that  sufficient 
time  has  since  passed  for  the  abandoned  towns  and  fields 
to  remain  for  years,  and  perhaps  centuries,  as  waste 
places,  pass  through  the  transition  from  waste  lands  to 
the  beginning  of  forest  growths,  and  then  be  covered  by 
several  generations  of  such  great  forest  trees  as  were 
cleared  away  to  prepare  the  soil  for  the  settlements, 
towns,  and  farms  of  our  people. 

HOW    LONG    WERE    THEY   HERE  ? 

There  are  many  indications  to  warrant  the  conclusion 
that  the  Mound-Builders  occupied  their  principal  seats  in 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Valleys  during  a  very  long  pe- 


52  Ancient  America. 

riod.  If  they  came  from  the  south,  as  appears  evident, 
their  settlements  must  have  been  extended  up  the  valley 
gradually.  After  their  first  communities  were  estab 
lished  in  the  Gulf  regions,  considerable  time  must  have 
elapsed  before  their  advancing  settlements  were  extend 
ed  northward,  through  the  intervening  region,  into  the 
Valley  of  the  Ohio.  On  the  Ohio  and  in  the  valleys  of 
its  tributaries  their  settlements  were  very  numerous,  and 
evidently  populous.  The  surprising  abundance  of  their 
works  in  this  region,  which  have  been  traced  in  our  time, 
shows  that  they  dwelt  here  in  great  numbers,  and  had 
no  lack  of  industry. 

This  region  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  principal 
centres  from  which  their  settlements  were  advanced  into 
the  western  part  of  Virginia;  into  Michigan, Wisconsin, 
Iowa,  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Missouri.  The  spread  of  their 
settlements  was  necessarily  gradual,  and  a  long  period 
must  have  been  required  to  extend  them  over  all  the 
country  where  remains  of  their  works  are  known  to  ex 
ist.  If  their  civilization  was  chiefly  developed  after  their 
arrival  in  the  country,  which  is  unlikely,  many  years  must 
have  elapsed  before  colonies  went  forth,  to  any  great  ex 
tent,  from  the  original  seat  of  its  development.  In  any 
case,  time  was  required  to  make  their  chief  settlement* 
sufficiently  old  and  populous  to  send  forth  colonies.  It 
is  manifest  in  their  remains  that  the  communities  of  this 
ancient  people  most  remote  from  the  populous  centres 
on  the  Ohio,  east,  north,  and  west,  were,  like  all  border 
settlements,  the  rudest  and  least  populous.  The  remains 
at  these  points  do  not  indicate  either  as  much  wealth  01 


Antiquity  of  the  Mound-Builders.  53 

as  many  workers,  and  the  places  where  these  borderers 
settled  must  have  been  the  latest  occupied  and  the  earli 
est  abandoned.  One  diligent  investigator,  who  believes 
they  came  originally  from  Mexico,  speaks  of  the  time  of 
their  stay  in  the  country  as  follows : 

"  When  we  consider  the  time  required  to  people  the 
whole  extent  of  the  territory  where  their  remains  are 
found,  and  bring  that  people  into  a  condition  to  construct 
such  monuments,  and  when  we  reflect  on  the  interval 
that  must  have  passed  after  their  construction  until  the 
epoch  of  their  abandonment,  we  are  constrained  to  ac 
cord  them  a  very  high  antiquity." 

He  points  out  that  they  were  sun  worshipers,  like  the 
Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  and  calls  attention  to  the  disks 
dug  from  their  mounds,  which  appear  to  have  been  de 
signed  as  representations  of  the  sun  and  moon. 

Their  long  occupation  of  the  country  is  suggested  by 
the  great  extent  of  their  mining  works.  All  who  have 
examined  these  works  agree  with  Colonel  Whittlesey  that 
they  worked  the  Lake  Superior  copper  mines  "for  a 
great  length  of  time."  How  long  they  had  dwelt  in  the 
Ohio  Valley  when  this  mining  began  can  not  be  told, 
but  a  very  considerable  period  must  have  elapsed  after 
their  arrival  at  that  point  before  the  mines  were  discov 
ered.  We  can  not  suppose  the  first  settlers  who  came 
up  from  the  Gulf  region  to  the  Ohio  Valley  went  on  im 
mediately,  through  the  wilderness  a  thousand  miles,  to 
hunt  for  copper  mines  on  Lake  Superior;  and, even  after 
they  began  to  explore  that  region,  some  time  must  have 
passed  before  the  copper  was  found. 


54  Ancient  America. 

After  they  discovered  the  mines  and  began  to  work 
them,  their  progress  could  not  have  been  rapid.  As  their 
open  trenches  and  pits  could  be  worked  only  in  the  sum 
mers,  and  by  methods  that  made  their  operations  much 
slower  than  those  of  modern  miners,  no  great  advance  of 
their  work  was  possible  during  the  wxxrking  time  of  each 
season ;  and  yet  remains  of  their  mining  works  have 
been  discovered  wherever  mines  have  been  opened  in 
our  day ;  and,  as  previously  stated,  they  are  known  to 
exist  in  heavy  forests,  where  the  modern  mining  works 
have  not  yet  been  established.  There  is  nothing  to  indi 
cate  that  they  had  settlements  any  where  in  the  mining 
region.  Colonel  Whittlesey,  and  others  whose  study  of 
the  subject  gives  their  opinion  much  weight,  believe  the 
Mound-Builders  went  up  from  the  settlements  farther 
south  in  the  summers,  remained  in  the  copper  region 
through  the  season,  and  worked  the  mines  in  organized 
companies  until  the  advance  of  winter  terminated  their 
operations. 

Colonel  Whittlesey  says :  "  As  yet,  no  remains  of  cit 
ies,  graves,  domiciles,  or  highways  have  been  found  in  the 
copper  region ;"  and  adds, "  as  the  race  appears  to  have 
been  farther  advanced  in  civilization  than  their  success 
ors,  whom  we  call  aborigines,  they  probably  had  better 
means  of  transportation  than  bark  canoes."  It  may  be 
said,  also,  that  the  accumulations  called  wealth  were  nec 
essary  to  make  this  regular  and  systematic  mining  possi 
ble.  Without  these  they  could  not  have  provided  the 
supplies  of  every  kind  required  to  sustain  organized  com 
panies  of  miners  through  a  single  season.  A  great  many 


Antiquity  of  the  Mound-Builders.  55 

summers  must  have  passed  away  before  such  companies 
of  miners,  with  all  needed  tools  and  supplies,  could  have 
made  their  works  so  extensive  by  means  of  such  methods 
as  they  were  able  to  use. 

They  probably  occupied  the  country  on  the  Gulf  and 
Lower  Mississippi  much  longer  than  any  other  portion  of 
the  great  valley.  Their  oldest  and  latest  abandoned  set 
tlements  appear  to  have  been  in  this  region,  where,  we 
may  reasonably  suppose,  they  continued  to  dwell  long 
after  they  were  driven  from  the  Ohio  Valley  and  other 
places  at  the  north. 

The  Natchez  Indians  found  settled  on  the  Lower  Mis 
sissippi  may  have  been  a  degenerate  remnant  of  the 
Mound-Builders.  They  differed  in  language,  customs, 
and  condition  from  all  other  Indians  in  the  country; 
and  their  own  traditions  connected  them  with  Mexico. 
Like  the  Mexicans,  they  had  temples  or  sacred  buildings 
in  which  the  "  perpetual  fire"  was  maintained.  Each  of 
their  villages  was  furnished  with  a  sacred  building  of 
this  kind.  They  had  also  peculiarities  of  social  and 
political  organization  different  from  those  of  other  tribes. 
They  were  sun-worshipers,  and  claimed  that  their  chief 
derived  his  descent  from  the  sun.  The  Natchez  were 
more  settled  and  civilized  than  the  other  Indians,  and,  in 
most  respects,  seemed  like  another  race.  One  learned 
investigator  classes  them  with  the  Nahuatl  or  Toltec  race, 
thinks  they  came  from  Mexico,  and  finds  that,  like  the 
ancient  people  of  Panuco  and  Colhuacan,  they  had  the 
phallic  ceremonies  among  their  religious  observances. 
Their  history  can  not  be  given,  and  there  is  little  or 


56  Ancient  America. 

nothing  but  conjecture  to  connect  them  with  the  Mound- 
Builders.  The  Natchez  were  exterminated  in  1730  by 
the  French,  whom  they  had  treated  with  great  kindness. 
Of  the  few  who  escaped  death,  some  were  received  among 
the  Chickasaws  and  Muskogees,  but  more  were  sent  to 
Santo  Domingo  and  sold  as  slaves. 

No  view  that  can  be  taken  of  the  relics  left  by  the 
Mound-Builders  will  permit  us  to  believe  their  stay  in 
the  country  was  short.  Any  hypothesis  based  on  the 
shortest  possible  estimate  of  the  time  must  count  the 
years  by  centuries. 


Who  were  the  Mound-builders  ?  57 


III. 

WHO  WERE  THE  MOUND-BUILDERS? 

THIS  ancient  people,  whose  remains  indicate  unity  and 
civilization,  must  have  been  organized  as  a  nation,  with 
a  central  administration  which  all  recognized.  They 
must  have  had  a  national  name,  but  nobody  can  tell  cer 
tainly  wrhat  it  was.  JSro  record  or  tradition  has  preserved 
it,  unless  discovery  of  it  can  be  made  in  a  national  desig 
nation  found,  without  clear  explanation,  in  the  old  books 
and  traditions  of  Central  America,  and  applied  to  some 
country  situated  at  a  distance  from  that  part  of  the  con 
tinent  in  the  northeast.  These  old  books  and  traditions 
mention  "  Huehue  -  Tlapalan"  as  a  distant  northeastern 
country,  from  which  the  Nairn  as  or  Toltecs  came  to  Mex 
ico  ;  and  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  who  has  translated  one 
of  the  old  books  and  given  much  attention  to  others, 
supposes  the  Toltecs  and  the  Mound-Builders  to  be  the 
same  people,  or  did  suppose  this  previous  to  the  appear 
ance  of  his  "Atlantic  theory."  But  this  point  will  be 
more  fully  considered  when  we  come  to  the  Central 
American  antiquities. 

Some  antiquaries  suggest  that  the  Mound -Builders 
were  the  people  called  "  Allighewi"  in  old  traditions  of 
the  Iroquois,  but  we  have  nothing  to  make  this  very 
probable.  The  Iroquois  were  somewhat  superior  to  the 

C2 


58  Ancient  America. 

other  great  family  of  barbarous  Indians  in  organization 
for  the  business  of  fighting.  There  are  some  reasons 
for  believing  they  came  to  the  lake  regions  and  the  Ohio 
Valley  much  earlier  than  the  Algonquin  branch  of  the 
wild  Indian  race.  It  is  permissible,  at  least,  to  conject 
ure,  if  one  feels  inclined  to  do  so,  that  it  was  the  Iroquois 
migration  from  the  northwest,  or  that  of  the  great  fam 
ily  to  which  the  Iroquois  family  belonged,  which  ex 
pelled  the  Mound-Builders  from  their  border  settlements, 
cut  them  off  from  the  copper  mines,  and  finally  pushed 
them  down  the  Mississippi ;  but  nothing  more  than  con 
jecture  is  possible  in  this  case,  and  the  supposition  gives 
the  Iroquois  migration  a  greater  antiquity  than  may  be 
allowable.  Moreover,  the  traditionary  lore  of  the  wild 
Indians  had  nothing  to  say  of  the  Mound-Builders,  who 
appear  to  have  been  as  unknown  and  mysterious  to  these 
Indians  as  they  are  to  us. 

NOT  ANCESTOKS    OF    THE   WILD    INDIANS. 

Some  inquirers,  not  always  without  hesitation,  sug 
gest  that  the  Indians  inhabiting  the  United  States  two 
hundred  years  ago  were  degenerate  descendants  of  the 
Mound-Builders.  The  history  of  the  world  shows  that 
civilized  communities  may  lose  their  enlightenment,  and 
sink  to  a  condition  of  barbarism ;  but  the  degraded  de 
scendants  of  a  civilized  people  usually  retain  traditional 
recollections  of  their  ancestors,  or  some  traces  of  the  lost 
civilization,  perceptible  in  their  customs  and  their  le 
gendary  lore.  The  barbarism  of  the  wild  Indians  of 
North  America  had  nothing  of  this  kind.  It  was  orig- 


Who  were  the  Mound- Builders  f  59 

inal  barbarism.  There  was  nothing  to  indicate  that  ei 
ther  the  Indians  inhabiting  our  part  of  the  continent,  or 
their  ancestors  near  or  remote,  had  ever  been  civilized, 
even  to  the  extent  of  becoming  capable  of  settled  life 
and  organized  industry.  And,  besides,  the  constant  tra 
dition  of  these  Indians,  supported  by  concurring  circum 
stantial  evidence,  appears  to  warrant  the  belief  that  they 
came  to  this  part  of  the  continent  originally  from  the 
west  or  northwest,  at  a  period  too  late  to  connect  them 
in  this  wray  with  the  Mound-Builders. 

Two  hundred  years  ago  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  regions  east  of  it,  were  occupied  by  two  great 
families  of  Indians,  the  Iroquois  and  the  Algonquins, 
each  divided  into  separate  tribes.  Between  these  two 
families  there  was  a  radical  difference  of  language.  The 
Indians  of  New  England  were  Algonquins.  The  Iro 
quois  dwelt  chiefly  in  New  York,  and  around  Lake  Erie, 
from  Niagara  to  Detroit,  although  separate  communities 
of  the  group  to  which  they  immediately  belonged  were 
found  in  other  places,  such  as  the  Dacotahs  and  Winne- 
bagoes  at  the  West,  and  the  isolated  Tuscaroras  of  the 
Carolinas.  Mr.  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  who  has  discussed  "  In 
dian  Migrations"  in  several  interesting  papers  printed 
in  the  North  American  Eeview,  thinks  the  Iroquois  were 
separated  very  early  from  the  same  original  stem  which 
produced  the  great  Dacotah  family.  The  Algonquins 
were  spread  most  widely  over  the  country  when  it  was 
first  visited  by  Europeans. 

Among  all  these  Indians  there  was  a  tradition  that 
their  ancestors  came  from  a  distant  region  in  the  North- 


60  Ancient  America. 

west,  and  this  tradition  is  accepted  as  true  by  those  who 
have  studied  them  most  carefully.  Mr.  Morgan  supposes 
they  came  across  the  continent,  and  estimates  that  not 
less  than  a  thousand  years  must  have  passed  between  the 
departure  of  the  various  groups  of  the  Algonquin  fami 
ly  from  a  common  centre  in  the  northwest  and  the  con 
dition  in  which  they  were  found  two  hundred  years  ago. 
When  Europeans  began  to  explore  North  America,  this 
family  had  become  divided  into  several  branches,  and 
each  of  these  branches  had  a  modified  form  of  the  com 
mon  language,  which,  in  turn,  had  developed  several  di 
alects.  A  long  period  was  required  to  effect  so  great  a 
change ;  but,  whatever  estimate  of  the  time  may  be  ac 
cepted,  it  seems  to  be  a  fact  that  the  Algonquins  came 
to  the  Mississippi  Valley  long  after  the  Mound-Builders 
left  it,  and  also  later  than  the  Iroquois  or  Dacotah  fam 
ily.  That  the  Iroquois  preceded  the  Algonquins  at  the 
East  appears  to  be  indicated  by  the  relative  position  of 
the  two  families  in  this  part  of  the  country.  Mr.  Park- 
man,  in  his  work  on  "  The  Jesuits  in  North  America," 
describes  it  as  follows :  "  Like  a  great  island  in  the  midst 
of  the  Algonquins  lay  the  country  of  tribes  speaking  the 
generic  tongue  of  the  Iroquois." 

There  is  no  trace  or  probability  of  any  direct  relation 
ship  whatever  between  the  Mound-Builders  and  the  bar 
barous  Indians  found  in  the  country.  The  wild  Indians 
of  this  continent  had  never  known  such  a  condition  as 
that  of  the  Mound-Builders.  They  had  nothing  in  com 
mon  with  it.  In  Africa,  Asia,  and  elsewhere  among  the 
more  uncultivated  families  of  the  human  race,  there  is 


Who  were  the  Mound- Builders  f  61 

not  as  much  really  original  barbarism  as  some  anthro 
pologists  are  inclined  to  assume ;  but  there  can  be  no 
serious  doubt  that  the  wild  Indians  of  North  America 
were  original  barbarians,  born  of  a  stock  which  had 
never,  at  any  time,  been  either  civilized  or  closely  asso 
ciated  with  the  influences  of  civilization. 

Some  of  the  pottery  and  wrought  ornaments  of  the 
Mound-Builders  is  equal  in  finish  and  beauty  to  the  finest 
manufactured  by  the  ancient  Peruvians.  They  construct 
ed  artificial  ponds  like  the  aguadas  in  Central  America. 
They  used  sun-dried  brick,  especially  at  the  South,  where 
walls  of  this  material  have  been  discovered  supporting 
some  of  the  mounds  and  embankments.  They  manufac 
tured  cloth.  But  their  intelligence,  skill,  and  civilized 
ways  are  shown  not  only  by  their  constructions  and 
manufactures,  but  also  by  their  mining  works.  Who  can 
imagine  the  Iroquois  or  the  Algonquins  working  the  cop 
per  mines  with  such  intelligence  and  skill,  and  such  a 
combination  of  systematic  and  persistent  industry !  They 
had  no  tradition  of  such  a  condition  of  life,  no  trace  of 
it.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  a  relationship,  or  a  connec 
tion  of  any  kind,  between  the  original  barbarism  of  these 
Indians  and  the  civilization  of  the  Mound-Builders.  The 
two  peoples  were  entirely  distinct  and  separate  from 
each  other.  If  they  really  belonged  to  the  same  race, 
which  is  extremely  doubtful,  we  must  go  back  through 
unnumbered  ages  to  find  their  common  origin  and  the 
date  of  their  separation. 


Ancient  America. 


Those  who  seek  to  identify  the  Mound-Builders  with 
the  barbarous  Indians  find  nothing  that  will  support 
their  hypothesis.  Nevertheless,  some  of  them  have  tried 
very  strangely  to  give  it  aid  by  one  or  two  quotations 
from  early  voyagers  to  America.  The  most  important 
are  taken  from  Brereton's  account  of  Gosnold's  voyage 
in  1602.  The  following  occurred  on  the  coast  of  Maine : 

"  Eight  Indians,  in  a  Basque  shallop,  with  mast  and 
sail,  an  iron  grapple,  and  a  kettle,  came  boldly  aboard 
us,  one  of  them  appareled  with  a  waistcoat  and  breeches 
of  black  serge,  made  after  our  sea  fashion,  hose  and 
shoes  on  his  feet:  all  the  rest  (saving  one  that  had  a 
pair  of  breeches  of  blue  cloth)  were  naked.^' 

It  is  known  that  the  Basques  were  accustomed  to 
send  fishing  vessels  to  the  northeastern  coast  of  America 
long  before  this  continent  was  discovered  by  Columbus. 
They  continued  to  do  this  after  the  discovery.  These 
Indians  had  evidently  become  well  acquainted  with  the 
Basques,  and,  therefore,  did  not  fear  to  approach  Gos 
nold's  ship.  Probably  some  of  them  had  been  employed 
on  board  Basque  fishing  vessels.  Certainly  their  boat 
and  apparel  came  from  the  Basque  fishermen,  and  did 
not  show  them  to  be  Mound-Builders.  Of  the  Indians 
on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts,  Brereton  says : 

"  They  had  great  store  of  copper,  some  very  red,  some 
of  a  paler  color;  none  of  them  but  have  chains,  ear 
rings,  or  collars  of  this  metal.  They  had  some  of  their 
arrows  herewith,  much  like  our  broad  arrow-heads,  very 


Who  were  the  Mound-Builders  f  63 

workmanly  made.  Their  chains  are  many  hollow  pieces 
cemented  together,  each  piece  of  the  bigness  of  one  of 
our  reeds,  a  finger  in  length,  ten  or  twelve  of  them  to 
gether  on  a  string,  which  they  wear  about  their  necks: 
their  collars  they  wear  about  their  bodies  like  bandeliers 
a  handful  broad,  all  hollow  pieces  like  the  other,  but 
somewhat  shorter,  four  hundred  pieces  in  a  collar,  very 
fine  and  evenly  set  together."  He  adds :  "  I  am  per 
suaded  they  have  great  store  (of  flax)  growing  upon  the 
main,  as  also  mines  and  many  other  rich  commodities, 
which  we,  wanting  time,  could  not  possibly  discover." 

If  all  this  had  been  true,  it  would  not  serve  the  pur 
pose  for  which  it  is  quoted ;  for  remains  of  the  Mound- 
Builders  have  never  existed  in  Massachusetts,  and  we 
should  necessarily  suppose  these  Indians  had  procured 
copper  and  copper  ornaments  by  trading  with  the  Basques 
or  with  other  French  voyagers.  If  only  one  or  two  In 
dians  had  been  represented  as  wearing  ornaments  made 
of  copper,  this  explanation  could  be  readily  accepted. 
But  he  avers  that  they  had  "  great  store  of  copper,"  and 
adds,  "  None  of  them  but  have  chains,  earrings,  or  col 
lars  of  this  metal."  Therefore  his  statement  is  incredi 
ble.  The  following  considerations  will  show  why  it 
must  not  be  regarded  as  honest,  unadorned  truth. 

1.  Those  interested  in  Gosnold's  voyage  aimed  to  es- 
tablish  a  colony  on  that  coast ;  and  all  who  served  them, 
or  were  controlled  by  them,  were  easily  moved  to  tell  se 
ductive  stories  of  the  country  "  upon  the  main."  The 
chief  aim  of  Brereton's  account  of  this  \oyage  was  to  in 
cite  emigration.  Therefore  he  gave  this  wonderfully 


64:  Ancient  America. 

colored  account  of  mines,  flax-growing,  copper  chains 
and  collars,  and  "other  rich  commodities"  among  the 
wild  Indians  of  Massachusetts.  Settlements  on  that 
coast,  it  was  believed,  would  bring  profit  to  those  in 
whose  interest  he  wrote.  Gosnold  actually  proposed  at 
that  time  to  establish  a  colony  on  one  of  the  islands  in 
Buzzard's  Bay,  and  had  with  him  twenty  men  who  were 
expected  to  stay  as  colonists,  but  finally  refused  to  do 
so.  He  saw  a  great  deal  of  the  Indians,  and  knew  much 
more  of  their  actual  condition  than  the  story  admits. 

2.  Eighteen  years  later  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plym 
outh  from  the  Mayflower.  Neither  copper  mines  nor 
flax  fields  were  then  known  in  Massachusetts.  No  In 
dians  with  "  great  store"  of  copper  and  flax,  and  covered 
with  copper  ornaments,  were  seen  or  heard  of  by  the 
Pilgrims,  either  at  that  time  or  afterward.  In  1602, 
Brereton,  or  any  other  writer  employed  to  write  in  such 
a  way  as  would  promote  emigration,  could  tell  such  sto 
ries,  and  romance  freely  concerning  the  Indians,  without 
fear  of  contradiction.  Afterward,  when  the  actual  bar 
barism  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  New  England  and  other 
parts  of  the  country  had  become  generally  known,  no 
one  could  describe  any  of  these  Indians  as  successful 
miners  and  flax-growers,  and  assert  gravely  that  they 
had  such  stores  of  copper  that  "  none  of  them"  lacked 
great  abundance  of  copper  "chains,  earrings,  collars," 
and  the  like,  without  being  laughed  at.  Brereton's  story 
must  be  regarded  as  an  invention  designed  to  serve  a 
special  purpose,  but  not  warranted  by  any  thing  seen 
during  the  voyage  he  describes.  Neither  in  New  En- 


Who  were  the  Mound-JSuilders  ?  65 

gland  nor  any  where  else  in  our  part  of  the  continent 
did  the  early  colonists  find  Indians  who  worked  copper 
mines  and  had  "  great  store  of  copper."  What  Brereton 
says  was  not  true  of  any  Indians  known  to  our  first  colo 
nists  or  to  their  successors.  It  corresponds  to  no  reality 
found  in  any  part  of  our  territory  during  the  last  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  Therefore,  to  use  his  story  in 
support  of  an  absurd  hypothesis  is  not  a  satisfactory  pro 
ceeding. 

AMEEICAN    ETHNOLOGY. 

It  may  be  true  that  all  the  aboriginal  peoples  found  in 
habiting  North  and  South  America,  save  the  Esquimaux, 
belonged  originally  to  the  same  race.  Some  writers  as 
sume  it  to  be  true,  although  it  seems  strongly  improba 
ble,  not  to  say  impossible.  If  they  were  all  of  the  same 
race,  time  and  development,  under  different  conditions  of 
life,  had  divided  this  race  into  at  least  two  extremely 
unlike  branches.  The  wild  Indians  of  North  America 
were  profoundly  different  from  the  ancient  people  of 
Central  America  and  Peru.  The  Pueblo  or  Village  In 
dians  of  New  Mexico  have  scarcely  any  thing  in  com 
mon  with  the  Apaches,  Comanches,  and  Sioux.  Even 
the  uncivilized  Indians  of  South  America  are  different 
from  those  in  the  United  States.  Our  wild  Indians  have 
more  resemblance  to  the  nomadic  Ivoraks  and  Chook- 
chees  found  in  Eastern  Siberia,  throughout  the  region 
that  extends  to  Behring's  Strait,  than  to  any  people  on 
this  continent.  Those  who  have  seen  these  Siberians, 
traveled  with  them,  and  lived  in  their  tents,  have  found 


66  Ancient  America. 

the  resemblance  very  striking;  but  I  infer  from  what 
they  say  that  the  Korak  or  Chookchee  is  superior  to  the 
Indian.  See  Kennan's  "  Tent  Life  in  Siberia." 

Mr.  Lewis  H.  Morgan  finds  evidence  that  the  American 
aborigines  had  a  common  origin  in  what  he  calls  "  their 
systems  of  consanguinity  and  affinity."  If  it  can  be 
made  to  appear  beyond  question  that  these  systems  pre 
vail  and  are  identical  every  where  from  Patagonia  to 
the  Arctic  Zone,  his  argument  will  have  great  force. 
But  this  has  not  yet  been  shown.  He  says :  "  The  Indian 
nations,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
from  the  Arctic  Sea  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  with  the  ex 
ception  of  the  Esquimaux,  have  the  same  system.  It  is 
elaborate  and  complicated  in  its  general  form  and  de 
tails  ;  and,  while  deviations  from  uniformity  occur  in  the 
systems  of  different  stocks,  the  radical  features  are,  in 
the  main,  constant.  This  identity  in  the  essential  char 
acteristics  of  a  system  so  remarkable  tends  to  show  that 
it  must  have  been  transmitted  with  the  blood  to  each 
stock  from  a  common  original  source.  It  affords  the 
strongest  evidence  yet  obtained  of  unity  in  origin  of  the 
Indian  nations  within  the  region  defined." 

But  unity  in  race  among  wild  Indians  found  within 
the  region  specified  would  be  sufficiently  manifest  with 
out  this  evidence.  That  the  same  system  of  consanguin 
ity  and  affinity,  with  precisely  the  same  features  of  iden 
tity,  ever  was  extended  over  the  whole  continent,  re 
mains  unproved.  The  supposed  traces  of  it  among  the 
Pueblos  are  by  no  means  clear.  A  more  complete  and 
accurate  research  is  required  to  show  that  identically  the 


Who  were  the  Mound-Builders  f  67 

same  system  ever  lias  existed  any  where  between  the 
United  States  and  Patagonia.  A  system  not  wholly  un 
like  it,  though  not  the  same,  might  grow  up  any  where 
in  widely  separated  tribal  communities  of  barbarous  peo 
ples,  without  doing  any  thing  more  than  the  tribal  sys 
tem  itself  to  show  a  common  origin  in  race. 

The  aborigines  of  America  may  have  been  originally 
all  of  the  same  race.  There  are  some  considerations  in 
favor  of  this  hypothesis  which  have  been  used  by  writers 
entitled  to  great  respect;  but  it  can  not  yet  be  claimed 
with  reason  that  they  have  been  able  to  settle  this  ques 
tion  beyond  the  reach  of  doubt,  even  in  their  own  minds. 
Therefore,  to  speak  moderately,  it  would  be  premature  to 
assume  that  the  Mound-Builders  wrere  even  remotely  of 
ihe  same  race  with  the  wild  Indians,  from  whom  they 
were  so  different  in  all  we  know  of  them. 

The  attempt  to  establish  this  hypothesis  of  identity  in 
race  has  given  rise  to  a  tendency  to  underrate  the  devel 
opment  of  the  ancient  people  of  Mexico  and  Central 
America,  and  to  lower  the  estimate  of  their  attainments 
sufficiently  to  bring  them  within  reach  of  close  relation 
ship  to  the  wild  Indians.  The  difficulty  being  reduced 
in  this  way,  there  follows  an  attempt  to  get  rid  of  it  en 
tirely,  and  establish  connection  between  these  unlike  peo 
ples,  by  talking  of  "  Semi  -Village  Indians."  But  the 
hypothesis  used  in  this  case  is  not  well  warranted  by 
facts.  Such  "  Semi  -Village  Indians"  as  are  supposed, 
really  standing  half  way  between  the  savages  and  the 
Pueblos,  and  being  actually  savages  half  developed  into 
Pueblos,  have  never  had  a  clearly  defined  and  unques- 


6S  Ancient  America. 

tiouable  existence  here  since  the  continent  became  known 
to  Europeans.  In  the  border  region  between  the  north 
ern  wild  Indians  and  the  old  Mexican  race  there  are  ex- 

» 

ceptional  communities  formed  by  association  or  mixture, 
but  we  can  not  reasonably  give  them  the  significance 
claimed  for  the  supposed  "  Semi- Village  Indians."  More 
over,  these  exceptional  communities  are  usually  Pueblos 
whose  habits  have  been  changed  and  their  civilization 
lessened  by  association  with  wild  Indians,  or  in  some 
other  \vay.  The  Navajos  began  their  present  condition 
by  fleeing  to  the  mountains  from  the  Spaniards.  The 
Mound-Builders,  who  must  have  been,  still  more  than  the 
Pueblos,  unlike  the  barbarous  Indians,  can  not  be  ex 
plained  by  any  reference  whatever  to  such  communities. 
If  they  were  of  the  same  race,  they  were  far  from  being 
the  same  people. 

Some  ethnologists,  whose  suggestions  are  entitled  to 
respectful  attention  whether  accepted  or  rejected,  speci 
fy  considerations  which  they  believe  forbid  us  to  regard 
the  ancient  Mexicans  and  the  northern  wild  Indians  as 
identical  in  race.  They  point  to  the  well  known  fact 
that  the  fauna  of  the  American  continent  below  the 
northern  frontier  of  Mexico  is  remarkably  different  from 
that  between  this  line  and  the  Arctic  Sea.  At  the  north, 
America  abounds  in  species  similar  to  those  of  Europe 
and  Asia,  with  some  admixture  of  forms  wholly  Ameri 
can,  while  at  the  south  the  old-world  forms  disappear, 
and  the  fauna  of  the  whole  region  between  Mexico  and 
Cape  Horn  becomes  "  as  peculiar  as  that  of  Australia." 

The  explanation  given  is,  that  during  the  glacial  period 


Who  were  the  Mound-Builders  f  69 

the  larger  part  of  North  America,  like  Northern  Asia 
and  Europe,  was  covered  with  ice  and  partly  submerged, 
and  that  the  fauna  found  in  this  part  of  North  America 
was  introduced  after  the  glacial  period  by  immigration 
from  Asia  and  Europe  over  connecting  lands  or  islands 
at  the  northwest  and  the  northeast,  and  perhaps  by  some 
migration  from  the  south ;  the  fauna  at  the  south  mean 
while  remaining  very  much  as  it  was  before,  with  very 
little  change  through  later  migrations  from  the  north. 

Professor  Huxley  called  attention  to  this  subject  in 
a  brief  address  to  the  London  Ethnological  Society  in 
1869.  After  stating  the  case,  he  presented  the  follow 
ing  queries  and  suggestions:  "The  Austro- Columbian 
fauna,  as  a  whole,  therefore,  existed  antecedently  to  the 
glacial  epoch.  Did  man  form  part  of  that  fauna  ?  To 
this  profoundly  interesting  question  no  positive  answer 
can  be  given ;  but  the  discovery  of  human  remains  as 
sociated  with  extinct  animals  in  the  caves  of  Brazil,  by 
Lund,  lends  some  color  to  the  supposition.  Assuming 
this  supposition  to  be  correct,  we  should  have  to  look  in 
the  human  population  of  America,  as  in  the  fauna  gen 
erally,  for  an  indigenous  or  Austro-Columbian  element, 
and  an  immigrant  or '  Arctogeal'  element."  He  then  sug 
gests  that  the  Esquimaux  may  now  represent  the  immi 
grant  element,  and  the  old  Mexican  and  South  Ameri 
can  race  that  which  was  indigenous,  and  that  the  "  Red 
Indians  of  North  America"  may  have  appeared  original 
ly  as  a  mixture  of  these  two  races.  He  adds,  very  rea 
sonably,  "  It  is  easy  to  suggest  such  problems  as  these, 
but  quite  impossible,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowl 
edge,  to  solve  them." 


70  Ancient  America. 

WHO   WEEE    THE   MOUND-BUILDEKS  ? 

They  were  unquestionably  American  aborigines,  and 
not  immigrants  from  another  continent.  That  appears 
to  me  the  most  reasonable  suggestion  which  assumes 
that  the  Mound-Builders  came  originally  from  Mexico 
and  Central  America.  It  explains  many  facts  connect 
ed  with  their  remains.  In  the  Great  Valley  their  most 
populous  settlements  were  at  the  south.  Coming  from 
Mexico  and  Central  America,  they  would  begin  their 
settlements  on  the  Gulf  coast,  and  afterward  advance 
gradually  up  the  river  to  the  Ohio  Valley.  It  seems  evi 
dent  that  they  came  by  this  route;  and  their  remains 
show  that  their  only  connection  with  the  coast  was  at 
the  south.  Their  settlements  did  not  reach  the  coast  at 
any  other  point. 

Their  constructions  were  similar  in  design  and  ar 
rangement  to  those  found  in  Mexico  and  Central  Amer 
ica.  Like  the  Mexicans  and  Central  Americans,  they 
had  many  of  the  smaller  structures  known  as  teocallis, 
and  also  large  high  mounds,  with  level  summits,  reached 
by  great  nights  of  steps.  Pyramidal  platforms  or  foun 
dations  for  important  edifices  appear  in  both  regions, 
and  are  very  much  alike.  In  Central  America  import 
ant  edifices  were  built  of  hewn  stone,  and  can  still  be 
examined  in  their  ruins.  The  Mound-Builders,  like  some 
of  the  ancient  people  of  Mexico  and  Yucatan,  used  wood, 
sun-dried  brick,  or  some  other  material  that  could  not 
resist  decay.  There  is  evidence  that  they  used  timber 
for  building  purposes.  In  one  of  the  mounds  opened  in 


Who  were  the  Mound-Builders  ?  71 

the  Ohio  Valley  two  chambers  were  found  with  remains 
of  the  timber  of  which  the  walls  were  made,  and  with 
arched  ceilings  precisely  like  those  in  Central  America, 
even  to  the  overlapping  stones.  Chambers  have  been 
found  in  some  of  the  Central  American  and  Mexican 
mounds,  but  there  hewn  stones  were  used  for  the  wralls. 
In  both  regions  the  elevated  and  terraced  foundations 
remain,  and  can  be  compared.  I  have  already  called  at 
tention  to  the  close  resemblance  between  them,  but  the 
fact  is  so  important  in  any  endeavor  to  explain  the 
Mound-Builders  that  I  must  bring  it  to  view  here. 

Consider,  then,  that  elevated  and  terraced  foundations 
for  important  buildings  are  peculiar  to  the  ancient  Mex 
icans  and  Central  Americans ;  that  this  method  of  con 
struction,  which,  with  them,  was  the  rule,  is  found  no 
where  else,  save  that  terraced  elevations,  carefully  con 
structed,  and  precisely  like  theirs  in  form  and  appear 
ance,  occupy  a  chief  place  among  the  remaining  works 
of  the  Mound-Builders.  The  use  made  of  these  founda 
tions  at  Palenque,  Uxmal,  and  Chichen-Itza,  shows  the 
purpose  for  which  they  were  constructed  in  the  Missis 
sippi  Yalley.  The  resemblance  is  not  due  to  chance. 
The  explanation  appears  to  me  very  manifest.  This 
method  of  construction  was  brought  to  the  Mississippi 
Yalley  from  Mexico  and  Central  America,  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of  that  region  and  the  Mound-Builders  being 
the  same  people  in  race,  and  also  in  civilization,  when  it 
was  brought  here. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  old  structures  in  Ohio 
and  farther  south  called  "  mounds,"  namely,  those  which 


72  Ancient  America. 

are  low  in  proportion  to  their  horizontal  extent,  are  ter 
raced  foundations  for  buildings,  and  if  they  were  situ 
ated  in  Yucatan,  Guatemala,  and  Southern  Mexico,  they 
would  never  be  mistaken  for  any  thing  else.  The  high 
mounds  also  in  the  two  regions  are  remarkably  alike. 
In  both  cases  they  are  pyramidal  in  shape,  and  have  lev 
el  summits  of  considerable  extent,  which  were  reached 
by  means  of  stairways  on  the  outside.  The  great  mound 
at  Chichen-Itza  is  75  feet  high,  and  has  on  its  summit  a 
ruined  stone  edifice ;  that  at  Uxmal  is  60  feet  high,  and 
has  a  similar  ruin  on  its  summit ;  that  at  Mayapan  is  60 
feet  high ;  the  edifice  placed  on  its  summit  has  disap 
peared.  The  great  mound  at  Miamisbnrg,  Ohio,  is  68 
feet  high ;  and  that  at  Grave  Creek,  West  Virginia,  is  75 
feet  high.  Both  had  level  summits,  and  stairways  on 
the  outside,  but  no  trace  of  any  structure  remains  on 
them.  All  these  mounds  were  constructed  for  religious 
uses,  and  they  are,  in  their  way,  as  much  alike  as  any 
five  Gothic  churches. 

Could  these  works  of  the  Mound-Builders  be  restored 
to  the  condition  in  which  they  were  when  the  country 
was  filled  with  their  busy  communities,  we  should  doubt 
less  see  great  edifices,  similar  in  style  to  those  in  Yuca 
tan,  standing  on  the  upper  terraces  of  all  the  low  and 
extended  "  mounds,"  and  smaller  structures  on  the  high 
mounds,  such  as  those  above  named.  There  would  seem 
to  be  an  extension  of  ancient  Mexico  and  Central  Amer 
ica  through  Texas  into  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  valleys ; 
and  so,  if  there  were  no  massive  stone-work  in  the  old 
ruins  of  those  countries,  it  might  seem  that  the  Mound- 


Who  were  the  Mound-Builders  f  73 

Builders'  works  were  anciently  extended  into  them  by 
way  of  Texas. 

The  fact  that  the  settlements  and  works  of  the  Mound- 
Builders  extended  through  Texas  and  across  the  Rio 
Grande  indicates  very  plainly  their  connection  with  the 
people  of  Mexico,  and  goes  far  to  explain  their  origin. 
We  have  other  evidence  of  intercourse  between  the  two 
peoples ;  for  the  obsidian  dug  from  the  mounds,  and  per 
haps  the  porphyry  also,  can  be  explained  only  by  sup 
posing  commercial  relations  between  them. 

We  can  not  suppose  the  Mound-Builders  to  have  come 
from  any  other  part  of  North  America,  for  nowhere  else 
north  of  the  Isthmus  was  there  any  other  people  capable 
of  producing  such  works  as  they  left  in  the  places  where 
they  dwelt.  Beyond  the  relics  of  the  Mound-Builders 
themselves,  no  traces  of  the  former  existence  of  such  a 
people  have  been  discovered  in  any  part  of  North  Amer 
ica  save  Mexico,  and  Central  America,  and  districts  im 
mediately  connected  with  them.  At  the  same  time,  it  is 
not  unreasonable  to  suppose  the  civilized  people  of  these 
regions  extended  their  settlements  through  Texas,  and 
also  migrated  across  the  Gulf  into  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
In  fact,  the  connection  of  settlements  by  way  of  Texas 
appears  to  have  been  unbroken  from  Ohio  to  Mexico. 

This  colonizing  extension  of  the  old  Mexican  race 
must  have  taken  place  at  a  remote  period  in  the  past ; 
for  what  has  been  said  of  the  antiquity  of  the  Mound- 
Builders  shows  that  a  very  long  period,  far  more  than 
two  thousand  years,  it  may  be,  must  have  elapsed  since 
they  left  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio.  Perhaps  they  found 

D 


74  Ancient  America. 

the  country  mostly  unoccupied,  and  saw  there  but  little 
of  any  other  people  until  an  irruption  of  warlike  barba 
rians  came  upon  them  from  the  Northwest. 

In  speculating  on  the  causes  of  their  withdrawal  after 
centuries  of  occupation,  absolute  certainty  is  impossible, 
and  we  have  no  means  of  going  much  beyond  mere  con 
jecture.  We  may  suppose  as  most  probable  that  an  in 
flux  of  barbarians  destroyed  their  border  settlements,  in 
terrupted  their  mining  operations,  and  caused  them  to 
retire  gradually  toward  the  Gulf.  Fragments  of  their 
communities  may  have  become  incorporated  with  the 
barbarous  tribes.  This  conjecture  has  been  used  to  ex 
plain  certain  exceptional  peculiarities  noticed  in  some  of 
the  wild  Indian  tribes.  For  instance,  it  has  been  sug 
gested  that  the  Mandan  Indians  were  a  separated  and 
lost  fragment  of  the  mound-building  people,  they  being 
noticeably  unlike  other  Indians  in  many  respects,  lighter 
in  color,  and  peculiar  in  manners  and  customs.  What  is 
conjectured  may  be  true,  but  we  have  no  means  of  prov 
ing  its  truth.  That  the  Mandans  were  like  what  a  lost 
community  of  Mound-Builders  might  have  become  by 
degeneration  through  mixture  and  association  with  bar 
barians  may  be  supposed,  but  the  actual  history  of  that 
remarkable  tribe  might  give  its  peculiarities  a  very  dif 
ferent  explanation.  The  Mandans  were  supposed  to  be 
a  branch  of  the  Dacotahs.  They  may  have  been,  like 
the  Navajos,  a  changed  community  of  Pueblos,  but  any 
attempt  to  explain  them  by  means  of  conjecture  is  use 
less. 

The  supposition  that  the  Toltecs  and  the  Mound-Build- 


Who  were  the  Mound-Builders  f  75 

ers  were  the  same  people  seems  to  me  not  improbable. 
The  reasons  for  it  will  be  stated  when  we  come  to  a  dis 
cussion  of  the  antiquities,  books,  and  traditions  of  Cen 
tral  America.  I  will  only  say  here  that,  according  to 
dates  given  in  the  Central  American  books,  the  Toltecs 
came  from  "  Huehue-Tlapalan,"  a  distant  country  in  the 
northeast,  long  previous  to  the  Christian  era.  They 
played  a  great  part  and  had  a  long  career  in  Mexico  pre 
vious  to  the  rise  of  their  successors  in  power,  the  Aztecs, 
who  were  overthrown  by  the  Spaniards. 


76  Ancient  America. 


IV. 

MEXICO  AND  CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

RUINS  and  other  vestiges  revealing  an  ancient  civiliza 
tion  are  found  throughout  the  whole  southern  section  of 
North  America,  extending  as  far  north  as  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona.  But  here  the  antiquities  do  not  all  belong 
to  the  same  period  in  the  past,  nor  exhibit  unvarying 
likeness  and  unity  of  civilized  life.  They  are  somewhat 
less  homogeneous,  and  do  not  constantly  represent  the 
same  degree  of  civilization.  In  this  region,  the  monu 
ments  suggest  successive  and  varying  periods  in  the  civ 
ilized  condition  of  the  old  inhabitants,  some  of  the  oldest 
and  most  mysterious  monuments  seeming  to  indicate  the 
highest  development. 

In  the  northern  part  of  this  region  we  find  ruins  of 
great  buildings  similar  in  plan  and  arrangement  to  those 
still  used  by  the  Pueblos,  but  far  superior  as  monuments 
of  architecture,  science,  and  skill,  and  much  more  unlike 
those  farther  south  than  is  apparent  in  the  principal 
structures  of  the  Mound-Builders.  They  show  that  the 
old  settlers  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  did  not  belong  to 
the  Pueblo  branch  of  the  Mexican  race.  Farther  south, 
in  the  central  part  of  the  region  specified,  development 
was  more  advanced.  Here,  in  the  last  ages  of  American 
ancient  history,  was  the  seat  of  the  Mexican  or  Aztec  civ- 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  77 

ilization,  but  the  monuments  in  this  part  of  the  country 
are  mostly  older  than  the  Aztec  period.  The  most  aston 
ishing  remains  are  found  still  farther  south,  in  Chiapa, 
Tabasco,  Oxaca,  Yucatan,  Honduras,  Tehuantepec,  Guate 
mala,  and  other  parts  of  Central  America.  In  this  south 
ern  region,  mostly  buried  in  heavy  forests,  are  wonderful 
ruins  of  great  cities  and  temples.  Only  a  small  part  of 
modern  Mexico  is  included  in  the  region  where  these 
ruins  are  situated,  and  most  of  them,  probably,  were  not 
much  better  understood  by  the  ancient  Mexicans  than 
they  are  by  us.  Many  of  those  explored  in  later  times 
were  unknown  to  that  people,  just  as  others,  more  in 
number,  doubtless,  than  those  already  described,  still  re 
main  un visited  and  unknown  in  the  great  and  almost  im 
penetrable  forests  of  the  country. 

THE   NORTHERN   REMAINS. 

The  ruins  in  Northern  Mexico,  including  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona,  consist  chiefly,  as  already  stated,  of  the  re 
mains  of  structures  similar  in  general  design  and  pur 
pose  to  those  of  the  Village  Indians,  the  Pueblos.  In 
the  more  ancient  times,  doubtless,  as  at  present,  a  large 
proportion  of  the  dwellings  and  other  edifices,  like  those 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  were  built  of  perishable  mate 
rials  which  have  left  no  trace.  Many  of  them,  however, 
were  built  of  stone,  and  have  left  ruins  which  show  their 
character.  Stone  ruins  are  common  in  this  northern  re 
gion,  although  wood  and  adobe  seems  to  have  been  more 
commonly  used  as  building  material.  Some  of  the  ruined 
stone  edifices  were  inhabited  when  the  country  was  con' 


78  Ancient  America. 

quered  by  the  Spaniards.  The  remains  present  every 
where  the  same  characteristics.  They  represent  a  people 
who  built  always  in  the  same  way,  with  some  variations 
in  the  forms  of  their  structures,  and  had  substantially 
the  same  condition  of  life ;  but  the  ruins  are  not  all  of 
the  same  age.  Their  character  can  be  sufficiently  shown 
by  describing  a  few  of  them. 

In  New  Mexico,  wTest  of  the  Rio  Grande,  between  the 
head  waters  of  the  San  Jose  and  Zuni  rivers,  a  bluff  or 
ridge  rises  in  a  valley  two  hundred  feet  high.  The  Span 
iards  named  it  "El  Moro."  One  side  of  this  bluff  is  ver 
tical,  and  shows  yellowish-white  sandstone  rock,  on  the 
face  of  which  are  inscriptions ;  "  Spanish  inscriptions 
and  Indian  hieroglyphics."  It  was  carefully  described 
in  1849  by  Lieutenant  Simpson,  and  was  explored  again 
four  or  five  years  later  by  Lieutenant  A.  W.  Whipple, 
who  described  it  in  his  report  to  the  government,  pub 
lished  in  the  third  volume  of  "Explorations  and  Surveys 
for  a  Railroad  Route  to  the  Pacific."  On  the  summit  of 
this  height,  which  Lieutenant  Simpson  named  "  Inscrip 
tion  Rock,"  are  the  ruins  of  an  extensive  Pueblo  edifice 
built  of  stone.  The  walls  were  built  "  with  considerable 
skill."  In  some  places  they  are  still  "  perfect  to  the 
height  of  six  or  eight  feet,  vertical,  straight,  and  smooth; 
and  the  masonry  is  well  executed,  the  stones  being  of 
uniform  size — about  fourteen  inches  long  and  six  wide." 
The  layers  are  horizontal,  each  successive  layer  breaking 
joints  with  that  below  it.  Remains  of  cedar  beams  were 
discovered,  and  also  obsidian  arrow-heads,  painted  pot 
tery,  and  other  relics.  Another  ruin  was  seen  on  a 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  79 

height  across  the  gorge.  It  was  found  to  be  similar  to 
this,  both  in  character  and  condition  of  decay. 

Lieutenant  Whipple  went  westward  along  the  thirty- 
fifth  parallel.  We  can  not  do  better  than  follow  the  re 
port  of  what  he  saw. 

His  next  stopping-place,  after  leaving  "  El  Moro,"  was 
in  the  beautiful  valley  of  Ojo  Pescado.  Here,  close  by 
a  spring  that  showed  artificial  stone-work  of  ancient  date, 
were  two  old  Pueblo  buildings  in  ruins, "  so  ancient  that 
the  traditions  of  present  races  do  not  reach  them."  Not 
far  away  is  a  deserted  town  of  later  date.  The  two  an 
cient  structures  were  circular  in  form  and  equal  in  size, 
each  being  about  eight  hundred  feet  in  circumference. 
They  were  built  of  stone,  but  the  walls  have  crumbled 
and  become  chiefly  heaps  of  rubbish.  The  pottery  found 
here,  like  that  at  "El  Moro,"  is  "painted  with  bright 


.  21).—  PueDlo  Ruin  at  Pecos. 


80  Ancient  America. 

colors,  in  checks,  bands,  and  wavy  stripes ;  many  frag 
ments  show  a  beautiful  polish.  A  few  pieces  were  dis 
covered  larger  in  size,  inferior  in  color  and  quality,  but 
indicating  a  more  fanciful  taste.  United,  they  formed 
an  urn  witli  a  curious  handle ;  a  frog  painted  on  the  outx 
side  and  a  butterfly  within."  In  the  same  neighborhood, 
on  the  summit  of  a  cliff  twenty  feet  high,  was  another 
old  ruin  "  strongly  walled  around."  In  the  centre  was  a 
mound  on  which  were  traces  of  a  circular  edifice. 

The  next  place  of  encampment  was  at  Zuni,  where,  as 
shown  in  Figure  21,  can  be  seen  one  of  these  great  Pueblo 
buildings  inhabited  by  two  thousand  people  (Lieutenant 
Whipple's  estimate).  It  has  five  stories,  the  walls  of  each 
receding  from  those  below  it.  Looking  from  the  top,  he 
says  it  reminded  him  of  a  busy  ant-hill,  turkeys  and 
tamed  eagles  constituting  a  portion  of  its  inhabitants. 
Not  more  than  a  league  away  is  an  "old  Zuni"  which 
shows  nothing  but  ruins.  Its  crumbling  walls,  worn 
away  until  they  are  only  from  two  to  twelve  feet  high, 
are  "  crowded  together  in  confused  heaps  over  several 
acres  of  ground."  This  old  town  became  a  ruin  in  an 
cient  times.  After  remaining  long  in  a  ruined  condition 
it  was  again  rebuilt,  and  again  deserted  after  a  consider 
able  period  of  occupation.  It  is  still  easy  to  distinguish 
the  differences  in  construction  between  the  two  periods. 
"  The  standing  walls  rest  upon  ruins  of  greater  antiqui 
ty  ;"  and  while  the  primitive  masonry  is  about  six  feet 
thick,  that  of  the  later  period  is  only  from  a  foot  to  a  foot 
and  a  half  thick.  Small  blocks  of  sandstone  were  used 
for  the  latter.  Heaps  of  debris  cover  a  considerable 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  81 


tf.  21.— Modern  Znni. 


space,  in  which,  among  other  things,  are  relics  of  pottery 
and  of  ornaments  made  of  sea-shells.  Pieces  of  quaint 
ly-carved  cedar  posts  were  found  here,  and  their  condi 
tion  of  decay,  compared  with  that  of  the  cedar  beams  at 
"El  Moro,"  "indicated  great  antiquity."  The  place  of 
this  ruin  is  now  one  of  the  consecrated  places  of  the  Vil 
lage  Indians ;  it  has  "  a  Zuni  altar"  which  is  constantly 
used  and  greatly  venerated.  On  leaving  the  place,  their 
guide  blew  a  white  powder  toward  the  altar  three  times, 
and  muttered  a  prayer.  Tin's,  he  explained,  was  "  asking 
a  blessing  of  Montezuma  and  the  sun."  This  altar  seems 
to  represent  recollections  of  the  ancient  sun-worship. 
At  a  place  west  of  Zuni  ancient  relics  were  found,  in- 
D  2 


82  Ancient  America. 

dicating  that  an  extensive  Pueblo  town  had  formerly 
stood  there,  but  "  the  structures  were  probably  of  adobes," 
as  there  was  no  debris  of  stone  walls,  and  only  very  faint 
traces  of  foundations.  Near  the  Colorado  Chiquito  is  an 
extensive  ruin,  on  the  summit  of  an  isolated  hill  of  sand 
stone,  the  faces  of  its  walls  being  here  and  there  visible 
above  heaps  of  debris.  It  appears  to  be  very  old.  As 
near  as  could  be  ascertained,  the  great  rectangular  Pu 
eblo  building  was  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in  extent 
on  one  side,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  on  the  other. 
In  some  places  the  walls  are  ten  feet  thick, "  with  small 
rooms  inserted  in  them."  Stone  axes,  painted  pottery, 
and  other  articles  are  found  in  the  debris  :  "  The  indent 
ed  pottery,  said  to  be  so  very  ancient,  is  found  here  in 
many  patterns."  On  a  ridge  overlooking  the  valley  of 
Pueblo  Creek  are  traces  of  an  old  settlement  of  large 
extent,  supposed  to  have  been  that  heard  of  in  1539  by 
the  friar  Marco  de  Nica  as  "  the  kingdom  of  Totonteac." 
Adobe  seems  to  have  been  used  here  for  building. 
Traces  of  other  ruins  were  seen  in  various  places,  and 
springs  along  the  route  showing  ancient  stone-work  are 
mentioned. 

Ruins  are  abundant  in  the  Rio  Verde  Valley  down  to 
the  confluence  of  that  river  with  the  Rio  Salinas.  It  is 
manifest  that  this  whole  region  was  anciently  far  more 
populous  than  it  is  now.  Lieutenant  Whipple  says, 
"Large  fields  in  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Gila,  and  many 
spots  among  the  Pinal  Lena  Mountains,  are  marked 
with  the  foundations  of  adobe  houses."  Figure  22  repre 
sents  a  Pueblo  ruin  in  the  Valley  of  the  Gjla.  *'  In  Canon 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  85 

Chelly,  near  San  Francisco  Mountain,  and  upon  Rio 
Verde,  there  are  ruins  of  more  permanent  structures  of 
stone,  which  in  their  day  must  have  excelled  the  famed 
Pueblos  of  New  Mexico."  There  was  a  higher  degree  of 
civilization  in  the  ancient  times,  so  far  as  relates  to  archi 
tecture  and  skill  in  the  arts  and  appliances  of  life,  than 
has  been  shown  by  people  of  the  same  race  dwelling 
there  in  our  time  ;  but  the  ancient  condition  of  life  seems 
to  have  been  maintained  from  age  to  age  without  mate 
rial  change. 

THE  "SEVEN  CITIES  OF  CEVOLA." 

In  the  New  Mexican  valley  of  the  Chaco,  one  degree 
or  more  north  of  Zuni,  are  ruins  of  what  some  suppose 
to  have  been  the  famous  "  Seven  Cities  of  Cevola."  In 
1540,  Spanish  cupidity  having  been  strongly  incited  by 
tales  of  the  greatness  and  vast  wealth  of  Cevola,  Corona- 
do,  then  governor  of  New  Galicia,  set  out  with  an  army 
to  conquer  and  rob  its  cities.  The  report  in  which  he 
tells  the  story  of  this  conquest  and  of  his  disappointment 
is  still  in  existence.  The  Cevolans  defended  themselves 
with  arrows  and  spears,  and  hurled  stones  upon  his  army 
from  the  tops  of  their  buildings.  But  resistance  was  of 
no  avail ;  Cevola  was  conquered  by  Coronado,  and  imme 
diately  deserted  by  all  its  inhabitants  who  escaped  death. 
The  conquering  buccaneer,  however,  did  not  find  the 
treasures  of  gold  and  silver  he  expected.  Three  hun 
dred  and  thirty  years  or  more  have  passed  away  since 
this  expedition  of  the  Spanish  marauders  was  undertak 
en,  but  the  "  Seven  Cities  of  Cevola"  (if  they  really  were 


86  Ancient  America. 

the  "  cities"  whose  remains  are  found  in  the  Chaco  Val 
ley),  although  much  dilapidated,  are  still  sufficiently  well 
preserved  to  show  us  what  they  were. 

There  are  seven  ruins  in  the  Chaco  Valley,  all  of  the 
same  age,  from  one  to  three  miles  apart,  the  whole  line 
along  which  they  are  situated  being  not  more  than  ten 
miles  in  extent.  Coronado  said  of  Cevola,  "  The  seven 
cities  are  seven  small  towns,  standing  all  w'ithin  four 
leagues  together ;"  and  "  all  together  they  are  called  Ce 
vola."  The  Chaco  ruins  show  that  each  of  these  "cities" 
was,  Pueblo  fashion,  a  single  edifice  of  vast  size,  capable 
of  accommodating  from  five  hundred  to  three  thousand 
people.  They  were  all  built  of  stone,  around  three  sides 
of  a  square,  the  side  opposite  the  main  building  being 
left  open.  Figure  23  represents  one  of  these  buildings 
restored,  according  to  Lieutenant  Simpson.  Figure  24: 
is  a  ground  plan  of  this  structure.  The  outer  faces  of 
the  walls  were  constructed  with  thin  and  regular  blocks 
of  sandstone ;  the  inner  surfaces  were  made  of  cobble 
stone  laid  in  mortar,  and  the  outer  walls  were  three  feet 
thick.  They  were  four  or  five  stories  high,  and  the  only 
entrances  to  them  were  "  window  openings"  in  the  sec 
ond  story.  Above  the  canon  inclosing  the  valley  con 
taining  these  ruins,  at  a  distance  of  thirteen  miles,  are 
the  remains  of  another  "  city"  of  precisely  the  same  kind. 
Its  walls  are  at  present  between  twenty  and  thirty  feet 
high,  their  foundations  being  deeply  sunk  into  the  earth. 
Lieutenant  Simpson,  who  explored  that  region  in  1849, 
gays  it  was  built  of  tabular  pieces  of  hard,  fine-grained, 
compact  gray  sandstone,  none  of  the  layers  being  more 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  89 

than  three  inches  thick.  He  adds, "  It  discovers  in  the 
masonry  a  combination  of  science  and  art  which  can  only 
be  referred  to  a  higher  stage  of  civilization  and  refine 
ment  than  is  discoverable  in  the  work  of  Mexicans  or 
Pueblos  of  the  present  day.  Indeed,  so  beautifully  di 
minutive  and  true  are  the  details  of  the  structure  as  to 
cause  it  at  a  little  distance  to  have  all  the  appearance  of 
a  magnificent  piece  of  mosaic." 

Other  ruins  have  been  examined  in  this  northern  part 
of  the  old  Mexican  territory,  and  more  will  be  brought 
to  light,  for  the  whole  region  has  not  been  carefully  ex 
amined,  and  new  discoveries  are  constantly  reported. 

CENTRAL   MEXICO. 

As  we  go  down  into  Central  Mexico,  the  remains  as 
sume  another  character,  and  become  more  important ; 
but  the  antiquities  in  this  part  of  the  country  have  not 
been  very  completely  explored  and  described,  the  atten 
tion  of  explorers  having  been  drawn  more  to  the  south. 
Some  of  them  are  well  known,  and  it  can  be  seen  that 
to  a  large  extent  they  are  much  older  than  the  time  of 
the  Aztecs  whom  Cortez  found  in  power. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  Mexican  Yalley  was  the 
city  of  Tulha,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Toltecs.  At  the 
time  of  the  conquest  its  site  was  an  extensive  field  of 
ruins.  At  Xochicalco,  in  the  State  of  Mexico,  is  a  re 
markable  pyramid,  with  a  still  more  remarkable  base. 
It  was  constructed  with  five  stages  or  stories,  and  stands 
on  a  hill  consisting  chiefly  of  rock,  which  was  excavated 
and  hollowed  for  the  construction  of  galleries  and  chain- 


90  Ancient  America. 

bers.  The  opening  serves  as  an  entrance  to  several  gal 
leries,  which  are  six  feet  high  and  paved  with  cement, 
their  sides  and  ceilings  seeming  to  have  been  covered 
with  some  very  durable  preparation  which  made  them 
smooth  and  glistening.  Captain  Dupaix  found  the  main 
gallery  sixty  yards,  or  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long, 
terminating  at  two  chambers  which  are  separated  only 
by  two  massive  square  pillars  carefully  fashioned  of  por 
tions  of  the  rock  left  for  the  purpose  by  the  excavators. 
Over  a  part  of  the  inner  chamber,  toward  one  corner,  is 
a  dome  or  cupola  six  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base,  and 
rather  more  in  height.  It  lias  a  regular  slope,  and  was 
faced  with  square  stones  well  prepared  and  admirably 
laid  in  cement.  From  the  top  went  up  a  tube  or  circu 
lar  aperture  nine  inches  in  diameter,  which  probably 
reached  the  open  air  or  some  point  in  the  pyramid. 

In  this  part  of  Mexico  can  be  seen,  among  other 
things,  the  great  pyramid  or  mound  of  Cholulu,  the  very 
ancient  and  remarkable  pyramidal  structures  at  Teotihu- 
acan,  and  an  uncounted  number  of  teocallis  or  pyramids 
of  smaller  size.  The  pyramid  of  Cholulu  covers  an  area 
of  forty-five  acres.  It  was  terraced  and  built  with  four 
stages.  When  measured  by  Humboldt  it  was  1400  feet 
square  at  the  base,  and  160  feet  high.  At  present  it  is  a 
ruin,  and,  to  superficial  observers,  seems  little  more  than 
a  huge  artificial  mound  of  earth.  Its  condition  of  decay 
indicates  that  it  is  much  older  than  even  the  Toltec  pe 
riod.  The  largest  structure  at  Teotihuacan  covers  eleven 
acres.  These  structures,  and  the  Mexican  teocallis  gen 
erally,  were  made  of  earth,  and  faced  with  brick  or  stone. 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  91 

Captain  Dnpaix  saw,  not  far  from  Antequera,  two 
Truncated  pyramids  which  were  penetrated  by  two  care 
fully  constructed  galleries.  A  gallery  lined  with  hewn 
stone,  bearing  sculptured  decorations,  went  through  one 
of  them.  A  similar  gallery  went  partly  through  the 
other,  and  two  branches  were  extended  at  right  angles 
still  farther,  but  terminating  within.  He  mentions  also 
the  ruins  of  elaborately  decorated  edifices  which  had 
stood  on  elevated  terraces.  At  one  place  he  excavated 
a  terraced  mound,  and  discovered  burnt  brick ;  and  he 
describes  two  ancient  bridges  of  the  Tlascalans,  both 
built  of  hewn  stone  laid  in  cement,  one  of  them  being 
200  feet  long  and  36  wide.  Obelisks  or  pillars  42  feet 
high  stood  at  the  corners  of  these  bridges.  Important 
remains  of  the  ancient  people  exist  in  many  other  places; 
and  "  thousands  of  other  monuments  unrecorded  by  the 
antiquaries  invest  every  sierra  and  valley  of  Mexico  with 
profound  interest." 

At  Papantla,  in  the  State  of  Yera  Cruz,  there  is  a 
very  ancient  pyramidal  structure  somewhat  peculiar  in 
style  and  character.  It  is  known  that  important  ruins 
exist  in  the  forests  of  Papantla  and  Mesantla  which 
have  never  been  described.  The  remarkable  pyramid 
at  Papantla  was  examined  and  described  by  Humboldt. 
The  only  material  employed  in  constructing  it  was  hewn 
stone.  The  stone  was  prepared  in  immense  blocks, 
which  were  laid  in  mortar.  The  pyramid  was  an  exact 
square  at  the  base,  each  side  being  82  feet  in  length,  and 
the  height  about  60  feet.  The  stones  were  admirably 
cut  and  polished,  and  the  structure  was  remarkably  sym- 


92  Ancient  America. 

metrical.  Six  stages  could  be  discerned  by  Hnmboldt, 
and  his  account  of  it  says,  "A  seventh  appears  to  be  con 
cealed  by  the  vegetation  which  covers  the  sides  of  the 
pyramid."  A  great  flight  of  steps  leads  to  the  level 
summit,  by  the  sides  of  which  are  smaller  flights.  a  The 
facing  of  the  stones  is  decorated  with  hieroglyphics,  in 
which  serpents  and  crocodiles  carved  in  relievo  are  visi 
ble.  Each  story  contains  a  great  number  of  square 
niches  symmetrically  distributed.  In  the  first  story  there 
are  24  on  each  side,  in  the  second  20,  and  in  the  third 
16.  There  are  366  of  these  niches  on  the  whole  pyra 
mid,  and  12  in  the  stairs  toward  the  east." 

The  civilization  of  the  Aztecs  who  built  the  old  city 
of  Mexico  will  be  made  a  separate  topic ;  but  it  may  be 
said  here  that  when  they  came  into  the  Valley  of  Mexico 
they  were  much  less  advanced  in  civilization  than  their 
predecessors.  There  is  no  reason  whatever  to  doubt  that 
they  had  always  resided  in  the  country  as  an  obscure 
branch  of  the  aboriginal  people.  Some  have  assumed, 
without  much  warrant,  that  they  came  to  Mexico  from 
the  North.  Mr.  Squier  shows,  with  much  probability, 
that  they  came  from  the  southern  part  of  the  county 
where  communities  are  still  found  speaking  the  Aztec 
language.  When  they  rose  to  supremacy  they  adopted, 
so  far  as  their  condition  allowed,  the  superior  knowledge 
of  their  predecessors,  and  continued,  in  a  certain  way, 
and  with  a  lower  standard,  the  civilization  of  the  Toltecs. 
It  has  been  said,  not  without  reason,  that  the  civilization 
found  in  Mexico  by  the  Spanish  conquerors  consisted,  to 
a  large  extent,  of  "  fragments  from  the  wreck  that  befell 
the  American  civilization  of  antiquity." 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  93 


THE    GREAT    RUINS    AT    THE    SOUTH. 

To  find  the  chief  seats  and  most  abundant  remains  of 
the  most  remarkable  civilization  of  this  old  American 
race,  we  must  go  still  farther  south  into  Central  America 
and  some  of  the  more  southern  states  of  Mexico.  Here 
ruins  of  many  ancient  cities  have  been  discovered,  cit 
ies  which  must  have  been  deserted  and  left  to  decay  in 
ages  previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  Aztec  supremacy. 
Most  of  these  ruins  were  found  buried  in  dense  forests, 
where,  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  Conquest,  they  had 
been  long  hidden  from  observation. 

The  ruins  known  as  Palenque,  for  instance,  seem  to 
have  been  entirely  unknown  to  both  natives  and  Span 
iards  until  about  the  year  1750.  Cortez  and  some  of  his 
companions  went  through  the  open  region  near  the  for 
est  in  which  these  ruins  are  situated  without  hearing  of 
them  or  suspecting  their  existence.  The  great  ruins 
known  as  Copan  were  in  like  manner  unknown  in  the 
time  of  Cortez.  The  Spaniards  assaulted  and  captured 
a  native  town  not  far  from  the  forest  that  covered  them, 
but  heard  nothing  of  the  ruins.  The  captured  town, 
called  Copan,  afterward  gave  its  name  to  the  remains  of 
this  nameless  ancient  city,  which  were  first  discovered  in 
1576,  and  described  by  the  Spanish  licentiate  Palacios. 
This  was  little  more  than  forty  years  after  the  native 
town  was  captured  ;  but,  although  Palacios  tried,  "  in  all 
possible  ways,"  to  get  from  the  older  and  more  intelli 
gent  natives  some  account  of  the  origin  and  history  of 
the  ruined  city,  they  could  tell  him  nothing  about  it. 


94:  Ancient  America. 

To  them  the  ruins  were  entirely  mythical  and  myste 
rious.  With  the  facts  so  accessible,  and  the  antiquity  of 
the  ruins  so  manifest,  it  is  very  singular  that  Mr.  Stephens 
fell  into  the  mistake  of  confounding  this  ruined  city, 
situated  in  an  old  forest  that  was  almost  impenetrable, 
with  the  town  captured  by  the  Spaniards.  The  ruins 
here  were  discovered  accidentally ;  and  to  approach 
them  it  was  necessary,  as  at  Palenque,  to  cut  paths 
through  the  dense  tropical  undergrowth  of  the  forest. 

To  understand  the  situation  of  most  of  the  old  ruins 
in  Central  America,  one  must  know  something  of  the 
wild  condition  of  the  country.  Mr.  Squier  says : 

"  By  far  the  greater  proportion  of  the  country  is  in  its 
primeval  state,  and  covered  with  dense,  tangled,  and  al 
most  impenetrable  tropical  forests,  rendering  fruitless  all 
attempts  at  systematic  investigation.  There  are  vast 
tracts  untrodden  by  human  feet,  or  traversed  only  by  In 
dians  who  have  a  superstitious  reverence  for  the  moss- 
covered  and  crumbling  monuments  hidden  in  the  depths 
of  the  wilderness.  *  *  *  For  these  and  other  reasons,  it 
will  be  long  before  the  treasures  of  the  past,  in  Central 
America,  can  become  fully  known." 

A  great  forest  of  this  character  covers  the  southern 
half  of  Yucatan,  and  extends  far  into  Guatemala,  which 
is  half  covered  by  it.  It  extends  also  into  Chiapa  and 
Tabasco,  and  reaches  into  Honduras.  The  ruins  known 
as  Copan  and  Palenque  are  in  this  forest,  not  far  from 
its  southern  edge.  Its  vast  depths  have  never  been  much 
explored.  There  are  ruins  in  it  which  none  but  wan 
dering  natives  have  ever  seen,  and  some,  perhaps,  which 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  95 

no  human  foot  has  approached  for  ages.  It  is  believed 
that  ruins  exist  in  nearly  every  part  of  this  vast  wilder 
ness. 

According  to  the  old  Central  American  books  and  tra 
ditions,  some  of  the  principal  seats  of  the  earliest  civili 
zation,  that  of  the  "  Colhuas,"  was  in  this  forest-covered 
region.  In  their  time  the  whole  was  cultivated  and  filled 
with  inhabitants.  Here  was  a  populous  and  important 
part  of  the  Colhuan  kingdom  of  "  Xibalba,"  which,  after 
a  long  existence,  was  broken  up  by  the  Toltecs,  and 
which  had  a  relation,  in  time,  to  the  Aztec  dominion  of 
Montezuma,  much  like  that  of  the  old  monarchy  of 
Egypt  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Ptolemies. 

In  the  time  of  the  Spaniards  there  was  in  the  forest 
at  Lake  Peten  a  solitary  native  town,  founded  nearly  a 
century  previous  to  their  time  by  a  Maya  prince  of  Itza, 
who,  with  a  portion  of  his  people,  fled  from  Yucatan  to 
that  lonely  region  to  escape  from  the  disorder  and  blood 
shed  of  a  civil  war.  This  was  the  civil  war  which  de 
stroyed  Mayapan,  and  broke  up  the  Maya  kingdom  of 
Yucatan.  In  1695,  Don  Martin  Ursua,  a  Spanish  offi 
cial,  built  a  road  from  Yucatan  to  Lake  Peten,  captured 
the  town,  and  destroyed  it.  He  reported  that  the  build 
ers  of  this  road  found  evidence  that  "  wrecks  of  ancient 
cities  lie  buried  in  this  wilderness."  All  along  the  route 
they  discovered  vestiges  of  ruins,  and  special  mention  is 
made  of  "  remains  of  edifices  on  raised  terraces,  deserted 
and  overgrown,  and  apparently  very  ancient." 


96  Ancient  America 

CHAKACTEE    OF    THE    SOUTHEEN   ETJINS. 

Should  you  visit  the  ruins  of  one  of  these  mysterious 
old  cities,  you  would  see  scattered  over  a  large  area  great 
edifices  in  different  stages  of  decay,  which  were  erected 
on  the  level  summits  of  low  pyramidal  mounds  or  plat 
forms.  The  summits  of  these  mounds  are  usually  of  suf 
ficient  extent  to  furnish  space  for  extensive  terraces  or 
"  grounds,"  as  well  as  room  for  the  buildings.  The  edi 
fices  were  built  of  hewn  stone  laid  in  a  mortar  of  lime 
and  sand,  the  masonry  being  admirable,  and  the  orna 
mentation,  in  most  cases,  very  abundant.  The  pyramid- 
foundations  of  earth  wrere  faced  with  hewn  stone,  and 
provided  with  great  stone  stairways.  These,  we  may 
suppose,  were  the  most  important  buildings  in  the  old 
city.  The  ordinary  dwellings,  and  all  the  other  less  im 
portant  structures,  must  have  been  made  chiefly  of  wood 
or  some  other  material,  wrhich  had  perished  entirely  long 
ago  and  left  no  trace,  for  at  present  their  remains  are  no 
more  visible  than  those  of  the  forest  leaves  which  grew 
five  hundred  years  ago. 

One  explorer  of  Palenque  says :  "  For  five  days  did  I 
wander  up  and  down  among  these  crumbling  monu 
ments  of  a  city  which,  I  hazard  little  in  saying,  must  have 
been  one  of  the  largest  ever  seen."  There  is,  however, 
nothing  to  show  us  certainly  the  actual  size  of  any  of 
these  ancient  cities.  It  is  manifest  that  some  of  them 
were  very  large ;  but,  as  only  the  great  structures  made 
of  stone  remain  to  be  examined,  the  actual  extent  of  the 
areas  covered  by  the  other  buildings  can  not  be  deter 
mined. 


Fig.  25.— Arch  of  Las  Monjas. 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  99 

The  chief  peculiarity  of  these  ruins,  that  which  espe 
cially  invites  attention,  is  the  evidence  they  furnish  that 
their  builders  had  remarkable  skill  in  architecture  and 
architectural  ornamentation.  All  who  have  visited  them 
bear  witness  that  the  workmanship  was  of  a  high  order. 
The  rooms  and  corridors  in  these  edifices  were  finely 
and  often  elaborately  finished,  plaster,  stucco,  and  sculp 
ture  being  used.  In  one  room  of  a  great  building  at 
Uxmal  Mr.  Stephens  says  "  the  walls  were  coated  with 
a  very  fine  plaster  of  Paris,  equal  to  the  best  seen  on 
walls  in  this  country."  Speaking  of  the  construction  of 
this  edifice,  he  says,  "  throughout,  the  laying  and  polish 
ing  of  the  stones  are  as  perfect  as  under  the  rules  of  the 
best  modern  masonry."  All  the  ruins  explored  have 
masonry  of  the  same  character.  The  floors,  especially 
of  the  courts  and  corridors,  were  made  sometimes  of  flat 
stones  admirably  wrought  and  finely  polished,  and  some 
times  of  cement,  which  is  now  "  as  hard  as  stone."  Mr. 
Stephens,  describing  corridors  of  the  "  Palace"  at  Pa- 
lenque,  says  "  the  floors  are  of  cement,  as  hard  as  the  best 
seen  in  the  remains  of  Roman  baths  and  cisterns."  "We 
give  two  illustrations  of  their  method  of  constructing  the 
arch.  Figure  25  shows  an  arch  of  Las  Monjas,  at  Ux 
mal.  Figure  26  shows  the  most  common  form  of  the 
arch  in  the  older  ruins. 

The  ornamentation  is  no  less  remarkable  than  the 
masonry  and  architectural  finish.  It  is  found  on  the 
walls  within  and  without,  and  appears  in  elaborate  de 
signs  on  the  heavy  cornices.  The  exterior  ornamenta 
tion  is  generally  carved  or  sculptured  on  the  smooth  sur- 


100  Ancient  America. 


Fig.  26.— Common  Form  of  Arch. 

face  of  the  stone,  and  must  have  required  a  vast  amount 
of  time  and  labor,  as  well  as  skillful  artists.  In  some 
of  the  ruins  inscriptions  are  abundant,  being  found  on 
walls,  tablets,  and  pillars.  The  general  effect  of  the  ex 
terior  decoration  is  thus  described  by  Mr.  Stephens  in 
the  account  of  his  first  view  of  the  ruins  at  Palenque : 
"  We  saw  before  us  a  large  building  richly  ornamented 
with  stuccoed  figures  on  pilasters,  curious  and  elegant ; 
trees  growing  close  to  it,  and  their  branches  entering  the 
doors ;  the  style  and  effect  of  structure  and  ornament 
unique,  extraordinary,  and  mournfully  beautiful."  In  a 
description  of  the  walls  around  an  interior  court  of  a 
building  at  Uxmal,  we  have  this  tribute  to  the  artistic 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  101 

skill  of  the  decorators :  "  It  would  be  difficult,  in  arrang 
ing  four  sides  facing  a  court-yard,  to  have  more  variety, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  more  harmony  of  ornament." 

In  some  of  the  ruins,  and  especially  at  Copan,  there 
are  clusters  of  four-sided  stone  pillars  or  obelisks  vary 
ing  from  twelve  to  over  twenty  feet  high.  These  are 
elaborately  sculptured,  and  show  human  figures,  orna 
mental  designs,  and  many  inscriptions.  One  or  two  stat 
ues  have  been  discovered,  and  a  statuette  twelve  inches 
high  is  described ;  "  it  is  made  of  baked  clay,  very  hard, 
and  the  surface  is  smooth  as  if  coated  with  enamel."  At 
Palenque  are  remains  of  a  wTell-built  aqueduct;  and  near 
the  ruins,  especially  in  Yucatan,  are  frequently  found  the 
remains  of  many  finely  constructed  aguadas  or  artificial 
lakes.  The  bottoms  of  these  lakes  were  made  of  flat 
stones  laid  in  cement,  several  layers  deep.  In  Yucatan 
traces  of  a  very  ancient  paved  road  have  been  found. 
This  road  ran  north  and  south,  and  probably  led  to  cities 
in  the  region  now  covered  by  the  great  wilderness.  It 
was  raised  above  the  graded  level  of  the  ground,  and 
made  very  smooth. 

These  antiquities  show  that  this  section  of  the  conti 
nent  was  anciently  occupied  by  a  people  admirably  skilled 
in  the  arts  of  masonry,  building,  and  architectural  deco 
ration.  Some  of  their  works  can  not  be  excelled  by  the 
best  of  our  constructors  and  decorators.  They  were 
highly  skilled,  also,  in  the  appliances  of  civilized  life, 
and  they  had  the  art  of  writing,  a  fact  placed  beyond 
dispute  by  their  many  inscriptions. 

A  more  particular  account  of  some  of  these  rains  will 


102  Ancient  America. 

be  given  in  the  next  chapter.  Among  the  more 
tant  works  relating  to  them  are  those  of  Stephens  and 
Gather  wood,  some  of  the  volumes  of  Mr.  Squier,  Fred 
erick  Waldeck's  work,  and  a  recent  French  volume  by 
Desire  Charnay,  which  is  accompanied  by  a  folio  volume 
of  photographs.  Palacios,  who  described  Copan  in  1576, 
may  properly  be  called  the  first  explorer.  A  brief  ac 
count  of  Palenque  was  prepared  by  Captain  Del  Rio  in 
1T8T,  and  published  in  1822.  Captain  Dupaix's  folios,  in 
French,  with  the  drawings  of  Castenada,  contain  the  first 
really  important  memoir  on  these  ruins.  It  was  pre 
pared  in  1807,  detained  in  Mexico  during  the  Mexican 
Revolution,  and  finally  published  at  Paris  in  1834-5. 
The  volumes  of  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  are  valuable. 
They  relate  chiefly  to  matters  not  always  understood,  and 
seldom  discussed  with  care,  by  those  who  merely  visit  and 
describe  the  monuments,  such  as  the  writing,  books,  and 
traditions  of  the  ancient  Mexican  and  Central  American 
people.  His  style  is  diffuse,  sometimes  confused,  and 
rather  tedious ;  and  some  of  his  theories  are  very  fanci 
ful.  But  he  has  discovered  the  key  to  the  Maya  alpha 
bet  and  translated  one  of  the  old  Central  American 
books.  No  careful  student  of  American  archaeology  can 
afford  to  neglect  what  he  has  written  on  this  subject. 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  103 


MEXICO  AND  CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

To  understand  the  situation  and  historical  significance 
of  the  more  important  antiquities  in  Southern  Mexico 
and  Central  America,  we  must  keep  in  view  their  situ 
ation  relative  to  the  great  unexplored  forest  to  which  at 
tention  has  been  called.  Examine  carefully  any  good 
map  of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  and  consider  well 
that  the  ruins  already  explored  or  visited  are  wholly  in 
the  northern  half  of  Yucatan,  or  far  away  from  this  re 
gion,  at  the  south,  beyond  the  great  wilderness,  or  in  the 
southern  edge  of  it.  Uxmal,  Mayapan,  Chichen-Itza,  and 
many  others,  are  in  Yucatan.  Palenque,  Copan,  and  oth 
ers  are  in  the  southern  part  of  the  wilderness,  in  Chiapa, 
Honduras,  and  Guatemala.  Mr.  Squier  visited  ruins 
much  farther  south,  in  San  Salvador,  and  in  the  western 
parts  of  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica. 

The  vast  forest  which  is  spread  over  the  northern  half 
of  Guatemala  and  the  southern  half  of  Yucatan,  and  ex 
tended  into  other  states,  covers  an  area  considerably  lar 
ger  in  extent  than  Ohio  or  Pennsylvania.  Does  its  po 
sition  relative  to  the  known  ruins  afford  no  suggestion 
concerning  the  ancient  history  of  this  forest-covered  re 
gion  ?  It  is  manifest  that,  in  the  remote  ages  when  the 
older  of  the  cities  now  in  ruins  wrere  built,  this  region 


104  Ancient  America. 

'  was  a  populous  and  important  part  of  the  country.  And 
this  is  shown  also  by  the  antiquities  found  wherever  it 
has  been  penetrated  by  explorers  who  knew  how  to  make 
discoveries,  as  well  as  by  the  old  books  and  traditions. 
Therefore  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  assume  that  Copan 
and  Palenque  are  specimens  of  great  ruins  that  lie  buried 
in  it.  The  ruins  of  which  something  is  known  have 
merely  been  visited  and  described  in  part  by  explorers, 
some  of  whom  brought  away  drawings  of  the  principal 
objects.  In  giving  a  brief  account  of  the  more  impor 
tant  ruins,  I  will  begin  with  the  old  city  of  which  most 
has  been  heard. 

PALENQUE. 

No  one  can  tell  the  true  name  of  the  ancient  city  now 
called  Palenque.  It  is  known  to  us  by  this  name  be 
cause  the  ruins  are  situated  a  few  miles  distant  from  the 
town  of  Palenque,  now  a  village,  but  formerly  a  place  of 
some  importance.  The  ruins  are  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  Mexican  State  of  Chiapa,  hidden  out  of  sight  in 
the  forest,  where  they  seem  to  have  been  forgotten  long 
before  the  time  of  Cortez.  More  than  two  hundred  years 
passed  after  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards  before  their  ex 
istence  became  known  to  Europeans.  They  were  discov 
ered  about  the  year  1750.  Since  that  year  decay  has 
made  some  progress  in  them.  Captain  Del  Kio,  who  vis 
ited  and  described  them  in  1787,  examined  "fourteen  ed 
ifices"  admirably  built  of  hewn  stone,  and  estimated  the 
extent  of  the  ruins  to  be  "seven  or  eight  leagues  one 
way  [along  the  River  Chacamas],  and  half  a  league  the 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  105 

other."  He  mentions  "  a  subterranean  aqueduct  of  great 
solidity  and  durability,  which  passes  under  the  largest 
building." 

Other  explorers  have  since  visited  Palenque,  and  re 
ported  on  the  ruins  by  pen  and  pencil ;  but  it  is  not  cer 
tain  that  all  the  ruined  edifices  belonging  to  them  have 
been  seen,  nor  that  the  explorations  have  made  it  possi 
ble  to  determine  the  ancient  extent  of  the  city  with  any 
approach  to  accuracy.  The  very  great  difficulties  which 
obstruct  all  attempts  at  complete  exploration  have  not 
allowed  any  explorer  to  say  he  has  examined  or  discov 
ered  all  the  mouldering  monuments  hidden  in  the  dense 
and  tangled  forest,  even  within  the  space  allowed  by 
Del  Eio's  "  half  league"  from  the  river,  not  to  speak  of 
what  may  lie  buried  and  unknown  in  the  dense  mass  of 
trees  and  undergrowth  beyond  this  limit. 

The  largest  known  building  at  Palenque  is  called  the 
"Palace."  It  stands  near  the  river,  on  a  terraced  pyram 
idal  foundation  40  feet  high  and  310  feet  long,  by  260 
broad  at  the  base.  The  edifice  itself  is  228  feet  long, 
180  wide,  and  25  feet  high.  It  faces  the  east,  and  has 
14  doorways  on  each  side,  with  11  at  the  ends.  It  was 
built  entirely  of  hewn  stone,  laid  with  admirable  preci 
sion  in  mortar  which  seems  to  have  been  of  the  best 
quality.  A  corridor  9  feet  wide,  and  roofed  by  a  point 
ed  arch,  went  round  the  building  on  the  outside ;  and 
this  was  separated  from  another  within  of  equal  width. 
The  "  Palace"  has  four  interior  courts,  the  largest  being 
70  by  80  feet  in  extent.  These  are  surrounded  by  cor 
ridors,  and  the  architectural  work  facing  them  is  richly 

E  2 


106  Ancient  America. 

decorated.  Within  the  building  were  many  rooms. 
From  the  north  side  of  one  of  the  smaller  courts  rises  a 
high  tower,  or  pagoda-like  structure,  thirty  feet  square 
at  the  base,  which  goes  up  far  above  the  highest  eleva 
tion  of  the  building,  and  seems  to  have  been  still  higher 
when  the  whole  structure  was  in  perfect  condition.  The 
great  rectangular  mound  used  for  the  foundation  was 
cased  with  hewn  stone,  the  workmanship  here,  and  every 
where  else  throughout  the  structure,  being  very  superior. 
The  piers  around  the  courts  are  "  covered  with  figures 
in  stucco,  or  plaster,  which,  where  broken,  reveals  six  or 
more  coats  or  layers,  each  revealing  traces  of  painting." 
This  indicates  that  the  building  had  been  used  so  long 
before  it  was  deserted  that  the  plastering  needed  to  be 
many  times  renewed.  There  is  some  evidence  that 
painting  was  used  as  a  means  of  decoration ;  but  that 
which  most  engages  attention  is  the  artistic  manage 
ment  of  the  stone-work,  and,  above  all,  the  beautifully 
executed  sculptures  for  ornamentation. 

Two  other  buildings  at  Palenque,  marked  by  Mr.  Ste 
phens,  in  his  plan  of  the  ruins,  as  "  Casa  No.  1"  and 
"  Casa  No.  2,"  views  of  which  are  shown  in  Figures  27 
and  28,  are  smaller,  but  in  some  respects  still  more  re 
markable.  The  first  of  these,  75  feet  long  by  25  wide, 
stands  on  the  summit  of  a  high  truncated  pyramid,  and 
has  solid  walls  on  all  sides  save  the  north,  where  there 
are  five  doorways.  Within  are  a  corridor  and  three 
rooms.  Between  the  doorways  leading  from  the  corri 
dor  to  these  rooms  are  great  tablets,  each  13  feet  long 
and  8  feet  high,  and  all  covered  with  elegantly-carved 


Mexico  and  Central  America. 


107 


Fig.  27.— Casa  No.  1,  Palenque— Front  View  and  Ground  Plan. 

inscriptions.  A  similar  but  smaller  tablet,  covered  with 
an  inscription,  appears  on  the  wall  of  the  central  room. 
"  Casa  No.  2"  consists  of  a  steep  and  lofty  truncated 
pyramid,  which  stands  on  a  terraced  foundation,  and  has 
its  level  summit  crowned  with  a  building  50  feet  long 
by  31  wide,  which  has  three  doorways  at  the  south,  and 
within  a  corridor  and  three  rooms.  This  edifice,  some 
times  called  "  La  Cruz,"  has,  above  the  height  required 
for  the  rooms,  what  is  described  as  "  two  stories  of  inter 
laced  stucco-work,  resembling  a  high,  fanciful  lattice." 
Here, too, inscribed  tablets  appear  on  the  walls;  but  the 
inscriptions,  which  are  abundant  at  Palenque,  are  by  no 


108 


Ancient  America. 


iiiiiiiiiiMi.iiimmiiuii 


Fig.  28.— Casa  No.  2,  Palenque  (La  Cru/)— Front  View  and  Ground  Plan. 

means  confined  to  tablets.  As  to  the  ornamentation,  the 
walls,  piers,  and  cornices  are  covered  with  it.  Every 
where  the  masterly  workmanship  and  artistic  skill  of  the 
old  constructors  compel  admiration ;  Mr.  Stephens  go- 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  109 

ing  so  far  as  to  say  of  sculptured  human  figures  found 
in  fragments, "  In  justness  of  proportion  and  symmetry 
they  must  have  approached  the  Greek  models." 

"  Casa  No.  2"  of  Mr.  Stephens  is  usually  called  "  La 
Cruz"  because  the  most  prominent  object  within  the 
building  is  a  great  bas-relief  on  which  are  sculptured  a 
cross  and  several  human  figures.  This  building  stands 
on  the  high  pyramid,  and  is  approached  by  a  flight  of 
steps.  Dupaix  says,  "  It  is  impossible  to  describe  ade 
quately  the  interior  decorations  of  this  sumptuous  tem 
ple."  The  cross  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  central 
object  of  interest.  It  was  wonderfully  sculptured  and 
decorated  ;  human  figures  stand  near  it,  and  some  grave 
ceremony  seems  to  be  represented.  The  infant  held  to 
ward  the  cross  by  one  of  the  figures  suggests  a  christen 
ing  ceremony.  The  cross  is  one  of  the  most  common 
emblems  present  in  all  the  ruins.  This  led  the  Catholic 
missionaries  to  assume  that  knowledge  of  Christianity 
had  been  brought  to  that  part  of  America  long  before 
their  arrival ;  and  they  adopted  the  belief  that  the  Gos 
pel  was  preached  there  by  St.  Thomas.  This  furnished 
excellent  material  for  the  hagiologists  of  that  age ;  but, 
like  every  thing  else  peculiar  to  these  monkish  roman 
cers,  it  betrayed  great  lack  of  knowledge. 

The  cross,  even  the  so-called  Latin  cross,  is  not  exclu 
sively  a  Christian  emblem.  It  was  used  in  the  Oriental 
world  many  centuries  (perhaps  millenniums)  before  the 
Christian  era.  It  was  a  religious  emblem  of  the  Phoeni 
cians,  associated  with  Astarte,  who  is  usually  figured 
bearing  what  is  called  a  Latin  cross.  She  is  seen  so 


110  Ancient  America. 

figured  on  Phoenician  coin.  The  cross  is  found  in  the 
ruins  of  Nineveh.  Mr.  Layard,  describing  one  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  Assyrian  sculpture  (the  figure  of  "  an 
early  Nimrod  king"  he  calls  it),  says :  "  Round  his  neck 
are  hung  the  four  sacred  signs ;  the  crescent,  the  star  or 
sun,  the  trident,  and  the  cross"  These  "  signs,"  the  cross 
included,  appear  suspended  from  the  necks  or  collars  of 
Oriental  prisoners  figured  on  Egyptian  monuments  known 
to  be  fifteen  hundred  years  older  than  the  Christian  era. 
The  cross  was  a  common  emblem  in  ancient  Egypt,  and 
the  Latin  form  of  it  was  used  in  the  religious  mysteries 
of  that  country,  in  connection  with  a  monogram  of  the 
moon.  It  was  to  degrade  this  religious  emblem  of  the 
Phoenicians  that  Alexander  ordered  the  execution  of  two 
thousand  principal  citizens  of  Tyre  by  crucifixion. 

The  cross,  as  an  emblem,  is  very  common  among  the 
antiquities  of  Western  Europe,  where  archaeological  in 
vestigation  has  sometimes  been  embarrassed  and  con 
fused  by  the  assumption  that  any  old  monument  bearing 
the  figure  ©f  a  cross  can  not  be  as  old  as  Christianity. 

What  more  will  be  found  at  Palenque,  when  the 
whole  field  of  its  ruins  has  been  explored,  can  not  new 
be  reported.  The  chief  difficulty  by  which  explorers 
are  embarrassed  is  manifest  in  this  statement  of  Mr. 
Stephens:  "Without  a  guide,  we  might  have  gone  with 
in  a  hundred  feet  of  the  buildings  without  discovering 
one  of  them."  More  has  been  discovered  there  than  I 
have  mentioned,  my  purpose  being  to  give  an  accurate 
view  of  the  style,  finish,  decoration,  and  general  charac 
ter  of  the  architecture  and  artistic  work  found  in  the 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  Ill 

ruins  rather  than  a  complete  account  of  every  thing  con 
nected  with  them.  The  ruins  of  Palenque  are  deemed 
important  by  archaeologists  partly  on  account  of  the 
great  abundance  of  inscriptions  found  there,  which,  it  is 
believed,  will  at  length  be  deciphered,  the  written  char 
acters  being  similar  to  those  of  the  Mayas,  which  are 
now  understood. 

COPAN   AND   QUIRIGUA. 

The  ruins  known  as  Copan  are  situated  in  the  extreme 
western  part  of  Honduras,  where  they  are  densely  cov 
ered  by  the  forest.  As  already  stated,  they  were  first 
discovered  by  Europeans  about  forty  years  after  the  war 
of  the  conquest  swept  through  that  part  of  the  country, 
and  were  at  that  time  wholly  mysterious  to  the  natives. 
The  monuments  seem  older  than  those  at  Palenque,  but 
we  have  only  scant  descriptions  of  them.  They  are  sit 
uated  in  a  wild  and  solitary  part  of  the  country,  where 
the  natives  "  see  as  little  of  strangers  as  the  Arabs  about 
Mount  Sinai,  and  are  more  suspicious."  For  this  reason 
they  have  not  been  very  carefully  explored.  It  is  known 
that  these  ruins  extend  two  or  three  miles  along  the  left 
bank  of  the  River  Copan.  Not  much  has  been  done  to 
discover  how  far  they  extend  from  the  river  into  the 
forest. 

Mr.  Stephens  describes  as  follows  his  first  view  of 
them:  "We  came  to  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  and 
saw  directly  opposite  a  stone  wall  from  60  to  90  feet 
high,  with  furze  growing  out  of  the  top,  running  north 
and  south  along  the  river  624  feet,  in  some  places  fallen, 


112  Ancient  America. 

in  others  entire."  This  great  wall  supported  the  rear 
side  of  the  elevated  foundation  of  a  great  edifice.  It 
.was  made  of  cut  stone  well  laid  in  mortar  or  cement,  the 
blocks  of  stone  being  6  feet  long.  Figure  29  shows 
the  wall  somewhat  imperfectly.  He  saw  next  a  square 


Fig.  29.— Great  Wall  at  Copau. 

stone  column  standing  by  itself,  14  feet  high  and  3  feet 
on  each  side.  From  top  to  bottom  it  was  richly  orna 
mented  with  sculptured  designs  on  two  opposite  sides, 
the  other  sides  being  covered  with  inscriptions  finely 
carved  on  the  stone.  On  the  front  face,  surrounded  by 
the  sculptured  ornaments,  was  the  figure  of  a  man.  Four 
teen  other  obelisks  of  the  same  kind  were  seen,  some  of 
them  being  higher  than  this.  Some  of  them  had  fallen. 
These  sculptured  and  inscribed  pillars  constitute  the 
chief  peculiarity  of  Copan.  Mr.  Squier  says  of  them : 
"  The  ruins  of  Copan,  and  the  corresponding  monuments 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  113 

which  I  examined  in  the  valley  of  the  Chamelican,  are 
distinguished  by  singular  and  elaborately  carved  mono 
liths,  which  seem  to  have  been  replaced  at  Palenque  by 
equally  elaborate  basso  relievos,  belonging,  it  would  seem, 
to  a  later  and  more  advanced  period  of  art." 

The  great  building  first  noticed  stands,  or  stood,  on  a 
pyramidal  foundation,  which  is  supported  along  the  river 
by  that  high  back  wall.  The  structure  extends  624  feet 
on  the  river  line.  Mr.  Stephens  described  it  as  an  "  ob 
long  inclosure,"  and  states  that  it  has  a  wide  terrace 
nearly  100  feet  above  the  river,  on  which  great  trees  are 
growing,  some  of  them  more  than  20  feet  in  circumfer 
ence.  Here,  as  at  Palenque,  the  ornamentation  was 
"  rich  and  abundant."  The  ruins,  greatly  worn  by  de 
cay,  still  show  that  "architecture,  sculpture,  painting, 
and  all  the  arts  that  embellish  life  had  flourished  in  this 
overgrown  forest."  Some  beautifully  executed  sculp 
tures  were  found  buried  in  the  earth,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  extensive  excavation,  if  it  were  possible  in  that 
almost  invincible  forest,  would  lead  to  important  and 
valuable  discoveries.  Besides  the  great  building  and  the 
monoliths,  several  pyramidal  structures  are  mentioned 
by  Mr.  Stephens,  who  points  out  that  extensive  explora 
tion  is  impossible  unless  one  shall  first  clear  away  the 
forest  and  burn  up  the  trees. 

Palacios,  who  described  this  ruined  city  nearly  three 
hundred  years  ago,  saw  much  more  than  Mr.  Stephens. 
He  described  "  the  ruins  of  superb  edifices,  built  of  hewn 
stone,  which  manifestly  belonged  to  a  large  city."  lie 
mentions,  in  connection  with  the  great  wall,  an  enormous 


114  Ancient  America. 

eagle  carved  in  stone,  which  bore  a  square  shield  on  its 
breast  covered  with  undecipherable  characters.  He  men 
tions,  also,  a  "  stone  giant,"  and  a  "  stone  cross"  with  one 
arm  broken.  He  saw  a  "  plaza,"  circular  in  form,  sur 
rounded  by  ranges  of  steps  or  seats,  which  reminded  him 
of  the  Coliseum  at  Rome, "  as  many  as  eighty  ranges 
still  remaining  in  some  places."  This  "  plaza"  was  "  paved 
with  beautiful  stones,  all  square  and  well  worked."  Six 
of  the  great  obelisks,  which  he  described  as  "  statues," 
stood  in  this  inclosure,  and  in  its  centre  was  a  great  stone 
basin. 

A  history  of  Guatemala,  by  a  writer  named  Huarros, 
states  that  the  " Circus  of  Copan,"  as  he  calls  the  "plaza" 
described  by  Palacios,  was  still  entire  in  the  year  1700. 
He  mentions  gateways  which  led  into  the  inclosure,  and 
says  it  was  surrounded  on  the  outside  by  stone  pyramids 
six  yards  high,  near  which  were  standing  sculptured  fig 
ures  or  obelisks.  No  doubt,  remains  of  this  remarkable 
"  circus"  would  be  found  now,  if  the  forest  should  be  re 
moved.  What  else  could  be  found  there  by  means  of 
careful  and  thorough  exploration  may  never  be  known, 
for  the  region  is  uninviting,  the  forest  very  difficult,  and 
such  an  exploration  would  require  much  more  than  the 
means  and  efforts  of  one  or  two  individuals. 

Not  very  far  away,  in  the  neighboring  State  of  Guate 
mala,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  River  Motagua,  to  which 
the  Copan  is  a  tributary,  are  the  ruins  called  Quirigua. 
It  is  manifest  that  a  great  city  once  stood  here.  These 
ruins  have  a  close  resemblance  to  those  at  Copan,  but 
they  appear  to  be  much  older,  for  they  have,  to  a  great 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  117 

extent,  become  little  more  than  heaps  of  rubbish.  Over 
a  large  space  of  ground  traces  of  what  has  gone  to  decay 
are  visible.  Doubtless  important  relics  of  the  old  city 
are  now  more  abundant  below  the  surface  than  above  it. 
Mr.  Stephens,  describing  what  he  saw  there,  confines  his 
attention  chiefly  to  a  pyramidal  structure  with  flights  of 
steps,  and  monoliths  larger  and  higher  than  those  at 
Copan,  but  otherwise  similar.  He  states,  however,  that 
while  they  have  the  same  general  style,  the  sculptures 
are  in  lower  relief  and  hardly  so  rich  in  design.  One 
of  the  obelisks  here  is  twenty  feet  high,  five  feet  six 
inches  wide,  and  two  feet  eight  inches  thick.  The  chief 
figures  carved  on  it  are  that  of  a  man  on  the  front,  and 
that  of  a  woman  on  the  back.  The  sides  are  covered 
with  inscriptions  similar  in  appearance  to  those  at  Copan. 
Some  of  the  other  standing  obelisks  are  higher  than  this. 
It  seems  reasonable  to  infer  that  the  structures  at  Quiri- 
gua  were  more  ancient  than  those  at  Copan. 

MITLA. 

The  ruins  called  Mitla  are  in  the  Mexican  State  of 
Oxaca,  about  twelve  leagues  east  from  the  city  of  Oxaca. 
They  are  situated  in  the  upper  part  of  a  great  valley,  lind 
surrounded  by  a  waste,  uncultivated  region.  At  the  time 
of  the  Spanish  Conquest  they  were  old  and  much  worn 
by  time  and  the  elements,  but  a  very  large  area  was  then 
covered  by  remains  of  ancient  buildings.  At  present 
only  six  decaying  edifices  and  three  ruined  pyramids, 
which  were  very  finely  terraced,  remain  for  examination, 
the  other  structures  being  now  reduced  to  the  last  stage 


118  Ancient  America. 

of  decay.     Figures  30  and  31  present  views  of  some  of 


Fig.  31.— Great  Hall  at  Mitla, 

these  structures,  as  given  by  Yon  Temski.     Figure  32, 
from  Charnay's  photograph,  shows  a  ruin  at  Mitla. 

These  important  ruins  were  not  described  by  Stephens 
and  Catherwood.  Captain  Dupaix's  work  gives  some 
account  of  them,  and  Desire  Charnay,  who  saw  them 
since  1860,  brought  away  photographs  of  some  of  the 
monuments.  Four  of  the  standing  edifices  are  described 
by  Dupaix  as  "  palaces,"  and  these,  he  says, "  were  erect 
ed  with  lavish  magnificence ;  *  *  *  they  combine  the 
solidity  of  the  works  of  Egypt  with  the  elegance  of  those 
of  Greece."  And  he  adds,  "But  what  is  most  remarka 
ble,  interesting,  and  striking  in  these  monuments,  and 
which  alone  would  be  sufficient  to  give  them  the  first 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  121 

rank  among  all  known  orders  of  architecture,  is  the  ex 
ecution  of  their  mosaic  relievos,  very  different  from  plain 
mosaic,  and  consequently  requiring  more  ingenious  com 
bination  and  greater  art  and  labor.  They  are  inlaid  on 
the  surface  of  the  wall,  and  their  duration  is  owing  to 
the  method  of  fixing  the  prepared  stones  into  the  stone 
surface,  which  made  their  union  with  it  perfect."  Fig 
ure  33,  taken  from  Charnay's  photograph,  shows  part  of 
the  mosaic  decoration  on  a  wall  of  one  of  the  great  edi 
fices  at  Mitla. 

The  general  character  of  the  architecture  and  masonry 
is  much  like  that  seen  in  the  structures  at  Palenque,  but 
the  finish  of  the  workmanship  appears  to  have  been  more 
artistic  and  admirable.  These  ruins  are  remarkable 
among  those  of  the  country  where  they  are  found.  All 
who  have  seen  them  speak  much  as  Dupaix  speaks  of 
the  perfection  of  the  masonry,  the  admirable  design  and 
finish  of  the  work,  and  the  beauty  of  the  decorations. 
Their  beauty,  says  M.  Charnay,  can  be  matched  only  by 
the  monuments  of  Greece  and  Rome  in  their  best  days. 
One  fact  presented  by  some  of  the  edifices  at  Mitla  has 
a  certain  degree  of  historical  significance.  There  ap 
pears  to  be  evidence  that  they  were  occupied  at  some 
period  by  people  less  advanced  in  civilization  than  their 
builders.  M.  Charnay,  describing  one  of  them,  points  out 
this  fact.  He  says  of  the  structure : 

"It  is  a  bewildering  maze  of  courts  and  buildings,  with 
facings  ornamented  with  mosaics  in  relief  of  the  purest 
design ;  but  under  the  projections  are  found  traces  of 
paintings  wholly  primitive  in  style,  in  which  the  right 

F 


122  Ancient  America. 

line  is  not  even  respected.  These  are  rude  figures  of 
idols,  and  meandering  lines  that  have  no  significance. 
Similar  paintings  appear,  with  the  same  imperfection,  on 
every  great  edifice,  in  places  which  have  allowed  them 
shelter  against  the  ravages  of  time.  These  rude  designs, 
associated  with  palaces  so  correct  in  architecture,  and  so 
ornamented  with  panels  of  mosaic  of  such  marvelous 
workmanship,  put  strange  thoughts  in  the  mind.  To 
find  the  explanation  of  this  phenomenon,  must  we  not 
suppose  these  palaces  were  occupied  by  a  race  less  ad 
vanced  in  civilization  than  their  first  builders  ?" 

Two  miles  or  more  away  from  the  great  edifices  here 
mentioned,  toward  the  west,  is  the  "  Castle  of  Mitla." 
It  was  built  on  the  summit  of  an  isolated  and  precipi 
tous  hill  of  rock,  which  is  accessible  only  on  the  east  side. 
The  whole  leveled  summit  of  this  hill  is  inclosed  by  a 
solid  wall  of  hewn  stone  twenty-one  feet  thick  and  eight 
een  feet  high.  This  wall  has  salient  and  retiring  angles, 
with  curtains  interposed.  On  the  east  side  it  is  flanked 
by  double  walls.  Within  the  inclosure  are  the  remains 
of  several  small  buildings.  The  field  of  these  ruins  was 
very  large  three  hundred  years  ago.  At  that  time  it 
may  have  included  this  castle. 

AN    ASTRONOMICAL   MONUMENT. 

In  this  part  of  Mexico  Captain  Dupaix  examined  a  pe 
culiar  ruin,  of  which  he  gave  the  following  account : 
"Near  the  road  from  the  village  of  Tlalmanalco  to  that 
called  Mecamecan,  about  three  miles  east  of  the  latter, 
there  is  an  isolated  granite  rock,  which  was  artificially 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  123 

formed  into  a  kind  of  pyramid  with  six  hewn  steps  fac 
ing  the  east.  The  summit  of  this  structure  is  a  platform, 
or  horizontal  plane,  well  adapted  to  observation  of  the 
stars  on  every  side  of  the  hemisphere.  It  is  almost  de 
monstrable  that  this  very  ancient  monument  was  exclu 
sively  devoted  to  astronomical  observations,  for  on  the 
south  side  of  the  rock  are  sculptured  several  hieroglyph- 
ical  figures  having  relation  to  astronomy.  The  most 
striking  figure  in  the  group  is  that  of  a  man  in  profile, 
standing  erect,  and  directing  his  view  to  the  rising  stars 
in  the  sky.  He  holds  to  his  eye  a  tube  or  optical  instru 
ment.  Below  his  feet  is  a  frieze  divided  into  six  com 
partments,  with  as  many  celestial  signs  carved  on  its  sur 
face."  It  has  been  already  stated  that  finely  -  wrought 
"telescopic  tubes"  have  been  found  among  remains  of 
the  Mound-Builders.  They  were  used,  it  seems,  by  the 
ancient  people  of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  and  they 
were  known  also  in  ancient  Peru,  where  a  silver  figure 
of  a  man  in  the  act  of  using  such  a  tube  has  been  dis 
covered  in  one  of  the  old  tombs. 

RUINS    FARTHER    SOUTH. 

Old  ruins,  of  which  but  little  is  known,  exist  in  Guate 
mala,  Honduras,  San  Salvador,  and  the  more  southern 
portion  of  Central  America.  Mr.  Squier,  who  tells  us 
more  of  them  than  any  other  explorer,  says, "  I  heard  of 
remains  and  monuments  in  Honduras  and  San  Salvador 
equal  to  those  of  Copan  in  extent  and  interest,"  lie 
mentions  the  ruins  of  Opico,  near  San  Yincente,  in  San 
Salvador,  which  "  cover  nearly  two  square  miles,  and 


124  Ancient  America. 

consist  of  vast  terraces,  ruins  of  edifices,  circular  and 
square  towers,  and  subterranean  galleries,  all  built  of  cut 
stones  :  a  single  carving  has  been  found  here  on  a  block 
of  stone."  Remains  of  "  immense  works"  exist  in  the  dis 
trict  of  Chontales,  near  the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Nica 
ragua;  and  pottery  found  in  Nicaragua  "  equals  the  best 
specimens  of  Mexico  and  Peru."  Don  Jose  Antonio  Ur- 
ritia,  cure  of  Jutiapa,  gave  the  following  account  of  a 
great  ruin  on  a  mountain  in  San  Salvador,  near  the  town 
of  Comapa  :  it  is  called  Cinaca-Mecallo : 

"  The  walls,  or  remains  of  the  city  wall,  describe  an 
oval  figure,  within  which  roads  or  streets  may  be  traced, 
and  there  are  various  subterranean  passages  and  many 
ruined  edifices.  The  materials  of  construction  are  chief 
ly  thin  stones,  or  a  species  of  slate,  united  by  a  kind  of 
cement  which  in  appearance  resembles  melted  lead."  It 
does  not  appear  that  he  made  a  complete  examination  of 
the  monuments,  but  he  mentions  three  that  gained  his 
attention,  and  left  upon  his  mind  a  very  strong  impres 
sion.  "The  first  is  a  temple  consecrated  to  the  sun, 
chiefly  excavated  in  the  solid  rock,  and  having  its  en 
trance  toward  the  east.  On  the  archway  of  the  entrance 
are  carved  representations  of  the  sun  and  moon.  Hiero 
glyphics  are  found  in  the  interior.  Besides  the  sculp 
tured  fiassi  relievi,  these  stones  bear  hieroglyphics  paint 
ed  with  a  kind  of  red  varnish  which  remains  unimpaired. 
The  second  is  a  great  stone  slab  covered  with  inscrip 
tions  or  hieroglyphics.  The  third  is  the  figure  of  a  wild 
animal  sculptured  on  a  rock  or  stone,  of  "  great  size." 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  125 

THE    EUINS    IN   YUCATAN. 

The  remains  of  ancient  cities  are  abundant  in  the  set* 
tied  portion  of  Yucatan,  which  lies  north  of  the  great 
forest.  Charnay  found  "  the  country  covered  with  them 
from  north  to  south."  Stephens  states,  in  the  Preface  to 
his  work  on  Yucatan,  that  he  visited  "  forty -four  ruined 
cities  or  places"  in  which  such  remains  are  still  found, 
most  of  which  were  unknown  to  white  men,  even  to 
those  inhabiting  the  country ;  and  he  adds  that  "  time 
and  the  elements  are  hastening  them  to  utter  destruc 
tion." 

Previous  to  the  Spanish  Conquest,  the  region  known  to 
us  as  Yucatan  was  called  Maya.  It  is  still  called  Maya 
by  the  natives  among  themselves,  and  this  is  the  true 
name  of  the  country.  Why  the  Spaniards  called  it  Yu 
catan  is  unknown,  but  the  name  is  wholly  arbitrary  and 
without  reason.  It  is  said  to  have  arisen  from  an  odd 
mistake  like  that  which  occasioned  the  name  given  to 
one  of  the  capes  by  Hernandez  de  Cordova.  Being  on 
the  coast  in  1517,  he  met  some  of  the  natives.  Their 
cacique  said  to  him, "  Conex  cotoch,"  meaning  "  Come  to 
our  town."  The  Spaniard,  supposing  he  had  mentioned 
the  name  of  the  place,  immediately  named  the  project 
ing  point  of  land  "Cape  Cotoche,"  and  it  is  called  so 
still. 

At  that  time  the  country  was  occupied  by  the  people 
still  known  as  Mayas.  They  all  spoke  the  same  lan 
guage,  which  was  one  of  a  closely  related  family  of 
tongues  spoken  in  Guatemala,  Chiapas,  Western  Hondu- 


126  Ancient  America. 

ras,  and  in  some  other  districts  of  Central  America  and 
Mexico.  Yucatan  was  then  much  more  populous  than 
at  present.  The  people  had  more  civilization,  more  reg 
ular  industry,  and  more  wealth.  They  were  much  more 
highly  skilled  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  They  had  cities 
and  large  towns  ;  and  dwelling  -  houses,  built  of  timber 
and  covered  with  thatch,  like  those  common  in  England, 
were  scattered  over  all  the  rural  districts.  Some  of  the 
cities  now  found  in  ruins  were  then  inhabited.  This 
peninsula  had  been  the  seat  of  an  important  feudal  mon 
archy,  which  arose  probably  after  the  Toltecs  overthrew 
the  very  ancient  kingdom  of  Xibalba.  It  was  broken  up 
by  a  rebellion  of  the  feudal  lords  about  a  hundred  years 
previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards.  According  to 
the  Maya  chronicles,  its  downfall  occurred  in  the  year 
1420.  Mayapan,  the  capital  of  this  kingdom,  was  de 
stroyed  at  that  time,  and  never  afterward  inhabited. 

Merida,  the  present  capital  of  Yucatan,  was  built  on 
the  site  of  an  ancient  Maya  city  called  Tihoo.  It  is 
stated  in  the  old  Spanish  accounts  of  Merida  that  it  was 
built  on  that  site  because  there  was  in  the  ruins  an  abun 
dance  of  building  material.  There  is  mention  of  two 
"  mounds"  which  furnished  a  vast  amount  of  hewn  stone. 
Mr.  Stephens  noticed  in  some  of  the  edifices  stones  with 
"  sculptured  figures,  from  the  ruins  of  ancient  buildings ;" 
and  he  mentions  that  a  portion  of  an  ancient  building, 
including  an  arch  in  the  Maya  style,  was  retained  in  the 
construction  of  the  Franciscan  convent. 


Mexico  and  Central  America. 


127 


MAYAPAN. 

We  shall  notice  only  some  of  the  principal  ruins  in 
Fucatan,  beginning  with  Mayapan,  the  ancient  capital. 
The  remains  of  this  city  are  situated  about  ten  leagues, 
.n  a  southern  direction,  from  Merida.  They  are  spread 
over  an  extensive  plain,  and  overgrown  by  trees  and 
other  vegetation.  The  most  prominent  object  seen  by 


Fig.  34.— Great  Mound  at  Mayapan. 


128  Ancient  America. 

the  approaching  explorer  is  a  great  mound,  60  feet  high 
and  100  feet  square  at  the  base.  It  is  an  imposing 
structure,  seen  through  the  trees,  and  is  itself  overgrown 
like  a  wooded  hill.  Figure  34  shows  one  view  of  this. 
Four  stairways,  in  a  ruinous  condition,  25  feet  wide,  lead 
up  to  an  esplanade  within  6  feet  of  the  top,  which  is 
reached  by  a  smaller  stairway.  The  summit  is  a  plain 
stone  platform  15  feet  square.  This,  of  course,  was  a 
temple.  Sculptured  stones  are  scattered  around  the  base, 
and  within  the  mound  subterranean  chambers  have  been 
discovered. 

It  is  probable  that  the  principal  edifices  at  Mayapan 
were  not  all  built  wholly  of  stone,  for  they  have  mostly 
disappeared.  Only  one  -  remains,  a  circular  stone  build 
ing  25  feet  in  diameter,  which  stands  on  a  pyramidal 
foundation  35  feet  high.  This  is  represented  in  Figure 
35.  On  the  southwest  side  of  it,  on  a  terrace  projecting 
from  the  mound,  was  a  double  row  of  columns  without 
capitals,  8  feet  apart.  There  are  indications  that  this 
city  was  old,  and  that  the  buildings  had  been  more  than 
once  renewed.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  classes  some  of 
the  foundations  at  Mayapan  with  the  oldest  seen  at  Pa- 
lenque  and  Copan.  This  point,  however,  can  not  be  de 
termined  with  sufficient  accuracy  to  remove  all  doubt. 
Mayapan  may  have  stood  upon  the  foundations  of  a  very 
ancient  city  which  was  several  times  rebuilt,  but  the 
city  destroyed  in  1420  could  not  have  been  as  old  as  ei 
ther  Palenque  or  Copan. 


Fig.  35.— Circular  Edifice  at  Mayapan. 

F2 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  131 


UXMAL. 

The  ruins  of  Uxmal  have  been  regarded  as  the  most 
important  in  Yucatan,  partly  on  account  of  the  edifices 
that  remain  standing,  but  chiefly  because  they  have  been 
more  visited  and  explored  than  the  others.  It  is  sup 
posed,  and  circumstantial  evidence  appears  to  warrant 
the  supposition,  that  this  city  had  not  been  wholly  de 
serted  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  Conquest,  although  it 
had  previously  begun  to  be  a  ruin.  It  was  wholly  a  ruin 
in  1673.  The  area  covered  by  its  remains  is  extensive. 
Charnay  makes  it  a  league  or  more  in  diameter ;  but 
most  of  the  structures  have  fallen,  and  exist  now  only  in 
fragments  scattered  over  the  ground.  It  may  be  that 
many  of  them  were  not  built  wholly  of  hewn  stone,  and 
had  not "  Egyptian  solidity"  with  their  other  character 
istics. 

The  most  important  of  those  remaining  was  named 
"  Casa  del  Gobernador"  by  the  Spaniards.  It  is  320 
feet  long,  and  was  built  of  hewn  stone  laid  in  mortar  or 
cement.  The  faces  of  the  walls  are  smooth  up  to  the 
cornice.  Then  follows,  on  all  the  four  sides,  "  one  solid 
mass  of  rich,  complicated,  and  elaborately  sculptured  or 
naments,  forming  a  sort  of  arabesque."  Figure  36  gives 
a  view  of  the  south  end  of  this  edifice,  but  no  engraving 
can  show  all  the  details  of  the  ornamentation. 

This  building  has  eleven  doorways  in  front,  and  one 
at  each  end,  all  having  wooden  lintels,  which  have  fallen. 
The  two  principal  rooms  are  60  feet  long,  and  from  11 
to  13  feet  wide.  This  structure  is  long  and  narrow 


132 


Ancient  America. 


Fig.  36.—  Casa  del  Goberuador,  Uxmal. 


The  arrangement  and  number  of  the  rooms  are  shown  in 
the  following  ground  plan  of  the  building  (Figure  37) : 


SO    20     10     0 


Fig.  37.— Ground  Plan  of  Casa  del  Gobernador 


IK  Fort 


Fig.  38.— Double-headed  Figure,  Casa  del  Gobernador. 


Fig.  39.— Decorations  over  Doorway,  Caea  del  Gobernador. 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  135 

It  stands  on  the  summit  of  one  of  the  grandest  of  the 
terraced  foundations.  This  foundation,  like  all  the  oth 
ers,  is  pyramidal.  It  has  three  terraces.  The  lowest  is 
3  feet  high,  15  wide,  and  575  long ;  the  second  is  20  feet 
high,  275  wide,  and  545  long  ;  the  third,  19  feet  high,  30 
wide,  and  360  long.  Structures  formerly  existed  on  the 
second  terrace,  remains  of  which  are  visible.  At  the 
northwest  corner  one  of  them  still  shows  its  dilapidated 
walls,  portions  of  them  being  sufficiently  complete  to 
show  what  they  were.  This  edifice  was  94  feet  long 
and  34  wide.  It  seems  to  have  been  finely  finished  in 
a  style  more  simple  than  that  of  the  great  "  casa"  on  the 
upper  terrace.  The  figures  of  turtles  sculptured  along 
the  upper  edge  of  the  cornice  have  given  it  the  current 
designation,  ""House  of  the  Turtles."  Sculptured  mon 
uments  have  been  found  buried  in  the  soil  of  the  second 
terrace.  The  opening  of  a  small,  low  mound  situated 
on  it  brought  to  view  the  double-headed  figure  shown 
in  No.  38.  Figure  39  shows  part  of  the  sculptured  deco 
ration  over  the  centre  doorway  of  Casa  del  Gobernador. 

Another  important  edifice  at  Uxmal  has  been  named 
"  Casa  de  las  Monjas,"  House  of  the  Nuns.  It  stands 
on  a  terraced  foundation,  and  is  arranged  around  a  quad 
rangular  court-yard  258  feet  one  way  and  214  the  other. 
The  front  structure  is  279  feet  long,  and  has  a  gateway 
in  the  centre  10  feet  8  inches  wide  leading  into  the 
court,  and  four  doors  on  each  side  of  it.  The  outer  face 
of  the  wall,  above  the  cornice,  is  ornamented  with  sculp 
tures.  The  terrace  without  and  within  the  inclosure 
was  found  covered  with  a  very  dense  growth  of  vegeta- 


136 


Ancient  America. 


tion,  which  it  was  necessary  to  clear  away  before  the 
walls  could  be  carefully  examined.  All  the  doorways, 
save  those  in  front,  open  on  the  court.  Mr.  Stephens 
found  the  four  great  facades  fronting  the  court-yard 
"  ornamented  from  one  end  to  the  other  with  the  richest 
and  most  intricate  carving  known  to  the  builders  of  Ux- 
mal,  presenting  a  scene  of  strange  magnificence  which 
surpasses  any  other  now  seen  among  its  ruins."  The 


Fig.  40.— Ground  Plau  of  Las  Moiija?,  Uxinal. 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  137 

long  outer  structure,  on  the  side  facing  the  entrance,  had 
high  turret-like  elevations  over  each  of  its  thirteen  door 
ways,  all  covered  with  sculptured  ornaments.  This 
building  appears  to  have  inclosed  another  of  older  date. 
Figure  40  shows  the  ground  plan  of  "  Las  Monjas." 

Other  less  important  edifices  in  the  ruins  of  Uxmal 
have  been  described  by  explorers,  some  of  which  stand 
on  high  pyramidal  mounds ;  and  inscriptions  are  found 
here,  but  they  are  not  so  abundant  as  at  Palenque  and 
Copan. 

KABAH. 

The  ruins  known  as  Kabah  are  on  the  site  of  what 
must  have  been  one  of  the  most  imposing  and  important 
of  the  more  ancient  cities.  Here  the  most  conspicuous 
object  is  a  stone-faced  mound  180  feet  square  at  the  base, 
with  a  range  of  ruined  apartments  at  the  bottom.  Three 
or  four  hundred  yards  from  this  mound  is  a  terraced 
foundation  20  feet  high  and  200  by  142  in  extent,  on 
which  stand  the  remains  of  a  great  edifice.  At  the  right 
of  the  esplanade  before  it  is  a  "  high  range  of  ruined 
structures  overgrown  with  trees,  with  an  immense  back 
wall  on  the  outer  line  of  the  esplanade  perpendicular  to 
the  bottom  of  the  terrace."  On  the  left  is  another  range 
of  ruined  buildings,  and  in  the  centre  a  stone  inclosure 
27  feet  square  arid  7  feet  high,  with  sculptures  and  in 
scriptions  around  the  base.  Some  of  the  ornamentation 
of  this  building  has  been  described  in  the  strongest  terms 
of  admiration.  Mr.  Stephens  said  of  it,  "  The  cornice 
running  over  the  doorways,  tried  by  the  severest  rules  of 


138  Ancient  America. 

art  recognized  among  us,  would  embellish  the  architect 
ure  of  any  known  era."  At  Uxmal  the  walls  were 
smooth  below  the  cornice;  here  they  are  covered  with 
decorations  from  top  to  bottom. 

This  field  of  ruins  is  extensive,  and  only  a  portion  of 
it  has  been  examined.  It  is  so  overgrown  that  explora 
tion  is  very  difficult.  The  buildings  and  mounds  are 
much  decayed,  and  they  seem  to  be  very  old.  It  is  be 
lieved  that  ruined  edifices  of  which  nothing  is  known 
are  hidden  among  the  trees  in  places  which  no  explorer 
has  approached.  Mr.  Stephens  gave  the  first  account  of 
Kabah,  and  described  three  other  important  edifices  be 
sides  that  already  named.  One  of  these  he  thought  was, 
when  entire,  the  most  imposing  structure  at  Kabah.  It 
was  147  feet  long  by  106  wide,  and  had  three  distinct 
stories,  each  successive  story  being  smaller  than  that  be 
low  it.  Another,  standing  on  the  upper  terrace  of  an 
elevated  foundation  170  feet  long  by  110  broad,  was  164 
feet  in  length,  and  comparatively  narrow.  It  is  men 
tioned  as  a  peculiarity  of  this  edifice  that  it  had  pillars 
in  its  doorways,  used  as  supports.  The  other,  found 
standing  on  a  terrace,  is  also  long  and  narrow,  and  has  a 
comparatively  plain  front. 

Remains  of  other  buildings  are  visible,  but  in  all  cases 
they  are  so  completely  in  ruins  as  to  be  little  more  than 
heaps  of  debris.  Some  of  the  ruins  in  the  woods  beyond 
that  part  of  the  field  which  is  most  accessible,  are  visible 
from  the  great  mound  described.  A  resolute  attempt  to 
penetrate  the  forest  brought  the  explorers  in  view  of 
great  edifices  standing  on  an  elevated  terrace  estimated 


Mexico  and  Central  America. 


139 


to  be  800  feet  long  by  100  feet  wide.  The  decorations 
seemed  to  have  been  abundant  and  very  rich,  but  the 
structures  were  in  a  sad  state  of  dilapidation.  One  re 
markable  monument  found  at  Kabah  resembles  a  trium 
phal  arch.  It  stands  by  itself  on  a  ruined  mound  apart 
from  the  other  structures.  It  is  described  as  a  "  lonely 
arch,  having  a  span  of  14  feet,"  rising  on  the  field  of 
ruins  "  in  solitary  grandeur."  Figure  41  gives  a  view  of  it. 


Fig.  41.— Ruined  Arch  at  Kabah. 


140  Ancient  America. 

Kabah  was  an  ancient  city.  The  ruins  are  old,  and 
the  city  may  have  belonged  to  the  first  age  of  the  Maya 
period. 

CHICIIEN-ITZA. 

The  ruins  of  Chichen-Itza  are  situated  east  of  Maya- 
pan,  about  half  way  between  the  eastern  arid  western 
coasts  of  the  peninsula  of  Yucatan.  A  public  road  runs 
through  the  space  of  ground  over  wrhich  they  are  spread. 
The  area  covered  by  them  is  something  less  than  a  mile 
in  diameter.  The  general  character  of  the  ruined  struct 
ures  found  here  is  in  every  respect  like  that  shown  by 
ruins  already  described. 

One  of  the  great  buildings  at  this  place  has  a  rude, 
unornamental  exterior,  and  does  not  stand  on  an  artifi 
cial  terrace,  although  the  ground  before  it  was  excavated 
so  as  to  give  the  appearance  of  an  elevated  foundation. 
It  is  one  hundred  and  forty-nine  feet  long  by  forty-eight 
deep.  Its  special  peculiarity  consists  of  a  stone  lintel, 
in  a  very  dark  inner  room,  which  has  an  inscription  and 
a  sculptured  figure  on  the  under  side.  The  waiting 
closely  resembles  that  seen  at  Palenque  and  Copan. 
Was  this  sculptured  stone  made  originally  for  the  place 
it  now  occupies,  or  was  it  taken  from  the  ruins  of  some 
older  city  which  flourished  and  went  to  decay  before 
Chichen-Itza  was  built  ? 

Another  structure  seen  here  closely  resembles  Las 
Monjas  at  Uxmal,  and  bears  the  same  name,  but  it  differs 
somewhat  from  the  Uxmal  Monjas  in  arrangement.  In 
the  descriptions,  special  mention  is  made  of  "the  rich 
ness  and  beauty"  of  its  ornaments. 


Mexico  and  Central  America. 


141 


A  noticeable  edifice  connected  with  the  Monjas,  called 
the  "  Church,"  is  26  feet  long,  14  deep,  31  high,  and  has 
three  cornices,  the  spaces  between  them  being  covered 
with  carved  ornaments.  There  is  but  one  rogm  in  it. 
One  of  the  most  picturesque  ruins  at  Chichen-Itza  is 
circular  in  form,  and  stands  on  the  upper  level  of  a 
double-terraced  platform.  It  is  22  feet  in  diameter,  and 
has  four  doors,  which  face  the  cardinal  points.  Above 
the  cornice  it  slopes  gradually  almost  to  a  point,  and 
the  top  is  about  60  feet  above  the  ground.  The  grand 
staircase  of  20  steps,  leading  up  to  this  building,  is  45 
feet  wide,  and  has  a  sort  of  balustrade  formed  of  the 
entwined  bodies  of  huge  serpents.  At  some  distance 
from  this  is  the  ruined  structure  known  as  the  "  Casa 
Colorada,"  or  Red  House.  This  is  shown  in  Figure  42. 


Fig.  42.— Casa  Colorada. 


14:2  Ancient  America. 

It  is  43  feet  long  by  23  deep,  and  stands  on  a  platform 
62  feet  long  by  55  wide.  It  was  ornamented  above  the 
cornice,  but  the  decorations  are  much  defaced  by  decay. 
A  stone  tablet  extending  the  whole  length  of  the  back 
wall,  inside,  is  covered  by  an  inscription. 

A  remarkable  structure  is  found  at  this  place,  which 
Mr.  Stephens  called  the  "  Gymnasium,  or  Tennis  Court." 
It  consists  of  two  immense  parallel  walls  274  feet  long, 
30  thick,  and  120  apart.  On  elevations  facing  the  two 
ends  of  the  open  space  between  them,  100  feet  from  the 
ends  of  the  walls,  stand  two  edifices  much  ruined,  but 
showing,  in  their  remains,  that  they  were  richly  orna 
mented.  Midway  in  the  length  of  the  walls,  facing  each 
other,  and  20  feet  above  the  ground,  are  two  massive 
stone  rings  or  circles  4  feet  in  diameter,  each  having  in 
the  centre  a  hole  1  foot  and  7  inches  in  diameter.  On 
the  borders  around  these  holes  two  entwined  serpents 
are  sculptured,  as  seen  in  Figure  43. 

There  was  a  similar  structure  in  the  old  city  of  Mexi 
co,  and  remains  of  one  like  it  are  found  at  Mayapan. 
They  were,  probably,  used  for  games  of  some  kind. 
Among  the  other  ruins  at  Chichen-Itza  are  the  remains 
of  a  lofty  edifice  which  has  two  high  ranges  or  stories. 
On  the  outside  the  ornamentation  is  simple  and  tasteful, 
but  the  walls  of  its  chambers  are  very  elaborately  deco 
rated,  mostly  with  sculptured  designs,  which  seem  to 
have  been  painted.  In  one  of  the  upper  rooms  Mr. 
Stephens  found  a  beam  of  sapote  wood  used  as  a  lintel, 
which  was  covered  with  very  elegantly  carved  decora 
tions.  The  walls  of  this  room  were  covered,  from  the 


Mexico  and  Central  America. 


143 


$&^^^S^^ 

Fig.  43.— Great  Stone  Ring. 

bottom  to  the  top  of  the  arched  ceiling,  with  painted  de 
signs  similar  to  those  seen  in  the  Mexican  "  picture  writ 
ing."  Decay  had  mutilated  these  "  pictures,"  but  the  col 
ors  were  still  bright.  There  are  indications  that  paint 
ing  was  generally  used  by  the  aboriginal  builders,  even 
on  their  sculptures.  The  colors  seen  in  this  room  were 
green,  red,  yellow,  blue,  and  reddish-brown.  Another  ed 
ifice,  standing  on  a  high  mound,  is  reached  by  means  of 
the  usual  great  stairway,  which  begins  at  the  bottom, 
with  a  sort  of  balustrade  on  each  side,  the  ends  of  which 
are  stone  figures  of  heads  of  immense  serpents. 


144  Ancient  America. 

Not  far  from  this  is  a  singular  ruin,  consisting  of 
groups  of  small  columns  standing  in  rows  five  abreast, 
the  tallest  being  not  more  than  six  feet  high.  Many  of 
them  have  fallen.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  how 
they  were  used,  or  what  they  mean. 

OTHER   KUINS    IN    YUCATAN. 

Izamal,  Labna,  Zayi,  and  some  of  the  other  ruins  are 
sufficiently  important  for  special  notice ;  but  they  pre 
sent  every  where  the  same  characteristics,  differing  a  lit 
tle  in  the  style  or  method  of  ornamentation.  At  Labna 
there  is  among  the  ruins  an  ancient  gateway,  beautiful 
in  design  and  construction,  a  view  of  which  is  given  in 
the  Frontispiece.  The  best  account  of  some  of  the  oth 
er  ruins  on  this  peninsula  can  be  found  in  the  volumes  of 
Mr.  Stephens,  entitled  "  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Yucatan." 
At  Zayi  there  is  a  singular  building,  which,  as  seen  at  a 
distance  by  Mr.  Stephens,  "  had  the  appearance  of  a  New 
England  factory."  But  what  seemed  to  be  a  "  factory" 
is,  in  fact,  nothing  more  than  a  massive  wall  with  oblong 
openings,  which  runs  along  the  middle  of  the  roof,  and 
rises  thirty  feet  above  it.  The  building  was  below  this 
wall,  but  the/ront  part  of  it  had  fallen.  Among  the  re 
mains  at  Xcoch  is  the  great  mound  represented  in  Fig 
ure  44. 

There  is  a  remarkable  ruin  at  Ake,  at  the  south,  which 
deserves  mention.  Here,  on  the  summit  of  a  great 
mound,  very  level,  and  225  feet  by  50  in  extent,  stand 
36  shafts  or  columns,  in  three  parallel  rows.  The  col 
umns  are  about  15  feet  high  and  4  feet  square.  The 


Mexico  and  Central  America. 


145 


Fig.  44.— Great  Mound  at  Xcoch. 

ruins  of  Ake,  which  cover  a  great  space,  are  ruder  and 
more  massive  than  most  of  the  others.  The  island  of 
Coznmel  and  the  adjacent  coast  of  Yucatan  were  popu 
lous  when  the  Spaniards  first  went  there,  but  the  great 
towns  then  inhabited  are  now  in  ruins. 

Water  is  scarce  on  this  peninsula,  and  a  sufficient  sup 
ply  is  not  obtained  without  considerable  difficulty.  The 
ancient  inhabitants  provided  for  this  lack  of  water  by 
constructing  aguadas  or  artificial  ponds.  These,  or  many 
of  them,  doubtless,  are  as  old  as  the  oldest  of  the  ruined 

G 


146 


Ancient  America. 


cities.  Intelligence,  much  skill  in  masonry,  and  much 
labor  were  required  to  construct  them.  They  were  paved 
with  several  courses  of  stone  laid  in  cement,  and  in  their 
bottoms  wells  or  cavities  were  constructed.  More  than 
forty  such  wells  were  found  in  the  bottom  of  one  of  these 
aguadas  at  Galal,  which  has  been  repaired  and  restored 
to  use.  A  section  of  the  bottom  of  this  aguada  is  shown 
in  Figure  45.  In  some  places  long  subterranean  passa- 


Fig.  45. — Bottom  of  an  Aguada. 

ges  lead  down  to  pools  of  water,  which  are  used  in  the 
dry  season.  One  of  these  subterranean  reservoirs,  and 
the  cavernous  passage  leading  to  it,  are  shown  in  Figure 
46.  The  reservoir  is  450  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  the  passage  leading  to  it  is  about  1400  feet 
long.  Branching  passages,  not  shown,  lead  to  two  or 
three  other  basins  of  water. 

The  wooden  lintels,  which  are  common  in  Yucatan, 


Mexico  and  Central  America. 


147 


do  not  appear  in  the  other  ruins,  and  there  is  a  differ 
ence  in  the  style  of  ornamentation  between  those  at 


Fig.  46.— Subterranean  Reservoir. 


Palenqne  or  Copan,  for  instance,  and  those  at  Uxmal, 
but  every  where  the  architecture  is  regulated  by  the 
same  idea,  the  differences  indicating  nothing  more  than 


148 


Ancient  America. 


different  periods  and  different  phases  of  development  in 
the  history  of  the  same  people. 

Some  of  the  great  edifices  in  these  old  ruins,  such  as 
the  "  Palace"  at  Palenque,  and  the  "  Casa  del  Goberna- 
dor5'  at  Uxmal,  remind  us  of  the  "  communal  buildings" 
of  the  Pueblos,  and  yet  there  is  a  wide  difference  be 
tween  them.  They  are  not  alike  either  in  character  01 
purpose,  although  such  great  buildings  as  the  "  Palace" 
may  have  been  designed  for  the  occupation  of  several 
families.  There  is  no  indication  that  "  communal"  resi 
dences  were  ever  common  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
At  the  time  of  the  Conquest  the  houses  of  the  people 
were  ordinary  family  dwellings,  made  of  wood,  and  we 
may  reasonably  suppose  this  fashion  of  building  was 
handed  down  from  the  earlier  ages.  Herrera,  who  sup 
posed,  mistakenly,  that  all  the  great  stone  edifices  were 


.  47.— Plan  of  the  Walls  at  Tuloom. 


Mexico  and  Central  America.  149 

temples,  said,  in  his  account  of  Yucatan, "  There  were  so 
many  and  such  stately  stone  buildings  that  it  was  amaz 
ing  ;  and  the  greatest  wonder  was  that,  having  no  use  of 
any  metal,  they  were  able  to  raise  such  structures,  which 
seem  to  have  been  temples ;  for  their  houses  were  all  of 
timber,  arid  thatched."  But  they  had  the  use  of  metals, 
and  they  had  the  art  of  making  some  of  them  admira 
ble  for  use  in  cutting  stone  and  carving  wood. 


Fig.  48.— Walch-tovver  at  Tuloom. 


150  Ancient  America. 

Among  the  buildings  of  later  date  are  some  of  those 
on  the  western  coast,  which  were  still  inhabited  three 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  The  city  of  Tulooin  was 
inhabited  then.  Figure  47  shows  a  ground  plan  of  the 
walls  of  this  city,  with  the  position  of  some  of  the  ruined 
monuments. 

Within  the  walls  are  remains  of  finely  constructed 
buildings  on  elevated  foundations,  none  of  them,  how 
ever,  very  large.  One  of  them  had  a  wooden  roof,  and 
timber  seems  to  have  been  considerably  used  here.  The 
walls  still  standing  were  made  of  hewn  stone.  Remains 
of  stone  edifices  exist  all  along  this  coast,  but  the  whole 
region  is  now  covered  by  a  dense  growth  of  trees  and 
other  vegetation.  Tuloom  was  seen  in  1518  by  Grijalva, 
who  sailed  along  the  coast.  At  that  time  the  island  of 
Cozumel,  where  noteworthy  ruins  are  found,  was  inhab 
ited  by  many  people.  Figure  48  shows  one  of  the  watch* 
towers  on  the  walls  of  Tuloom. 


Antiquity  of  the  Ruins.  151 


VI. 

ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  EUINS. 

THE  Mexican  and  Central  American  ruins  make  it 
certain  that  in  ancient  times  an  important  civilization 
existed  in  that  part  of  the  continent,  which  must  have 
begun  at  a  remote  period  in  the  past.  If  they  have  any 
significance,  this  must  be  accepted  as  an  ascertained 
fact.  A  large  proportion  of  them  had  been  forgotten  in 
the  forests,  or  become  mythical  and  mysterious,  long  be 
fore  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards. 

In  1520,  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  the  forest 
which  so  largely  covers  Yucatan,  Guatemala,  and  Chiapa 
was  growing  as  it  grows  now ;  yes,  four  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago,  for  it  was  there  a  century  previous  to  this 
date,  when,  the  Maya  kingdom  being  broken  up,  one  of 
its  princes  fled  into  this  forest  with  a  portion  of  his  peo 
ple,  the  Itzas,  and  settled  at  Lake  Peten.  It  was  the 
same  then  as  now.  How  many  additional  centuries  it 
had  existed  no  one  can  tell.  If  its  age  could  be  told,  it 
would  still  be  necessary  to  consider  that  the  ruins  hid 
den  in  it  are  much  older  than  the  forest,  and  that  the 
period  of  civilization  they  represent  closed  long  before 
it  was  established. 

In  the  ages  previous  to  the  beginning  of  this  immense 
forest,  the  region  it  covers  was  the  seat  of  a  civilization 


152  Ancient  America. 

which  grew  up  to  a  high  degree  of  development,  flour 
ished  a  long  time,  and  finally  declined,  until  its  cities 
were  deserted,  and  its  cultivated  fields  left  to  the  wild 
influences  of  nature.  It  may  be  safely  assumed  that 
both  the  forest-covered  ruins  and  the  forest  itself  are  far 
older  than  the  Aztec  period ;  but  who  can  tell  how  mucli 
older  ?  Copan,  first  discovered  and  described  three  hun 
dred  years  ago,  was  then  as  strange  to  the  natives  dwell 
ing  near  it  as  the  old  Chaldean  ruins  are  to  the  Arabs  who 
wander  over  the  wasted  plains  of  Lower  Mesopotamia. 
Native  tradition  had  forgotten  its  history  and  become 
silent  in  regard  to  it.  How  long  had  ruined  Copan  been 
in  this  condition  ?  No  one  can  tell.  Manifestly  it  was 
forgotten,  left  buried  in  the  forest  without  recollection 
of  its  history,  long  before  Montezuma's  people,  the  Az 
tecs,  rose  to  power ;  and  it  is  easily  understood  that  this 
old  city  had  an  important  history  previous  to  that  un 
known  time  in  the  past  when  war,  revolution,  or  some 
other  agency  of  destruction  put  an  end  to  its  career  and 
left  it  to  become  what  it  is  now. 

Moreover,  these  old  ruins,  in  all  cases,  show  us  only 
the  cities  last  occupied  in  the  periods  to  which  they  be 
long.  Doubtless  others  still  older  preceded  them ;  and, 
besides,  it  can  be  seen  that  some  of  the  ruined  cities 
which  can  now  be  traced  were  several  times  renewed  by 
reconstructions.  We  must  consider,  also,  that  building 
magnificent  cities  is  not  the  first  work  of  an  original 
civilization.  The  development  was  necessarily  gradual. 
Its  first  period  wras  more  or  less  rude.  The  art  of  build 
ing  and  ornamenting  such  edifices  arose  slowly.  Many 


Antiquity  of  the  Ruins.  153 

ages  must  have  been  required  to  develop  such  admirable 
skill  in  masonry  and  ornamentation.  Therefore  the  pe 
riod  between  the  beginning  of  this  mysterious  develop 
ment  of  civilized  life  and  the  first  builders  who  used  cut 
stone  laid  in  mortar  and  cement,  and  covered  their  work 
with  beautifully  sculptured  ornaments  and  inscriptions, 
must  have  been  very  long. 

We  have  no  measure  of  the  time,  no  clew  to  the  old 
dates,  nothing  whatever,  beyond  such  considerations  as 
I  have  stated,  to  warrant  even  a  vague  hypothesis.  It 
can  be  seen  clearly  that  the  beginning  of  this  old  civil 
ization  was  much  older  than  the  earliest  great  cities, 
and,  also,  that  these  were  much  more  ancient  than  the 
time  when  any  of  the  later  built  or  reconstructed  cities 
whose  relics  still  exist,  were  left  to  decay.  If  we  sup 
pose  Palenque  to  have  been  deserted  some  six  hundred 
years  previous  to  the  Spanish  Conquest,  this  date  will 
carry  us  back  only  to  the  last  days  of  its  history  as  an 
inhabited  city.  Beyond  it,  in  the  distant  past,  is  a  vast 
period,  in  which  the  civilization  represented  by  Palenque 
was  developed,  made  capable  of  building  such  cities,  and 
then  carried  on  through  the  many  ages  during  which 
cities  became  numerous,  flourished,  grew  old,  and  gave 
place  to  others,  until  the  long  history  of  Palenque  itself 
began. 

Those  who  have  sought  to  discredit  what  is  told  of  the 
Aztec  civilization  and  the  empire  of  Montezuma  have 
never  failed  to  admit  fully  the  significance  of  Copan, 
Palenque,  and  Mitla.  One  or  two  writers,  pursuing  the 
assumption  that  the  barbarous  tribes  at  the  north  and 

G2 


154  Ancient  America. 

the  old  Mexicans  were  of  the  same  race,  and  substantial 
ly  the  same  people,  have  undertaken  to  give  us  the  his 
tory  of  Montezuma's  empire  "  entirely  rewritten,"  and 
show  that  his  people  were  "  Mexican  savages."  In  their 
hands  Montezuma  is  transformed  into  a  barbarous  In 
dian  chief,  and  the  city  of  Mexico  becomes  a  rude  In 
dian  village,  situated  among  the  islands  and  lagoons  of 
an  everglade  which  afforded  unusual  facilities  "  for  fish 
ing  and  snaring  birds."  One  goes  so  far  as  to  maintain 
this  with  considerable  vehemence  and  amusing  uncon 
sciousness  of  absurdity.  He  is  sure  that  Montezuma  was 
nothing  more  than  the  principal  chief  of  a  parcel  of 
wild  Indian  tribes,  and  that  the  Pueblos  are  wild  Indians 
changed  to  their  present  condition  by  Spanish  influence. 
There  is  something  in  this  akin  to  lunacy. 

But  this  topic  will  receive  more  attention  in  another 
place.  I  bring  it  to  view  here  because  those  who  main 
tain  so  strangely  that  the  Aztecs  were  Indian  savages, 
admit  all  that  is  claimed  for  the  wonderful  ruins  at  the 
south,  and  give  them  a  very  great  antiquity.  They  main 
tain,  however,  that  the  civilization  represented  by  these 
ruins  was  brought  to  this  continent  in  remote  pre-histor- 
ic  times  by  the  people  known  as  Phoenicians,  and  their 
method  of  finding  the  Phoenicians  at  Palenque,  Copan, 
and  every  where  else,  is  similar  in  character  and  value 
to  that  by  which  they  transform  the  Aztec  empire  into 
a  rude  confederacy  of  wild  Indians. 


Antiquity  of  the  Ruins.  155 

DISTINCT   EEAS    TRACED. 

It  is  a  point  of  no  little  interest  that  these  old  con 
structions  belong  to  different  periods  in  the  past,  and 
represent  somewhat  different  phases  of  civilization.  Ux 
mal,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  partly  inhabited 
when  the  Spaniards  arrived  in  the  country,  is  plainly 
much  more  modern  than  Copan  or  Palenque.  This  is 
easily  traced  in  the  ruins.  Its  edifices  were  finished  in 
a  different  style,  and  show  fewer  inscriptions.  Round 
pillars,  somewhat  in  the  Doric  style,  are  found  at  Uxmal, 
but  none  like  the  square,  richly-carved  pillars,  bearing 
inscriptions,  discovered  in  some  of  the  other  ruins.  Co- 
pan  and  Palenque,  and  even  Kabah,  in  Yucatan,  may 
have  been  very  old  cities,  if  not  already  old  ruins,  when 
Uxmal  was  built.  Accepting  the  reports  of  explorers  as 
correct,  there  is  evidence  in  the  ruins  that  Quirigua  is 
older  than  Copan,  and  that  Copan  is  older  than  Palenque. 
The  old  monuments  in  Yucatan  represent  several  dis 
tinct  epochs  in  the  ancient  history  of  that  peninsula. 
Some  of  them  are  kindred  to  those  hidden  in  the  great 
forest,  and  remind  us  more  of  Palenque  than  of  Uxmal. 
Among  those  described,  the  most  modern,  or  most  of 
these,  are  in  Yucatan ;  they  belong  to  the  time  when  the 
kingdom  of  the  Mayas  flourished.  Many  of  the  others 
belong  to  ages  previous  to  the  rise  of  this  kingdom  ;  and 
in  ages  still  earlier,  ages  older  than  the  great  forest,  there 
were  other  cities,  doubtless,  whose  remains  have  perished 
utterly,  or  were  long  ago  removed  for  use  in  the  later 
constructions. 


156  Ancient  America. 

The  evidence  of  repeated  reconstructions  in  some  of 
the  cities  before  they  were  deserted  has  been  pointed 
out  by  explorers.  I  have  quoted  what  Charnay  says  of 
it  in  his  description  of  Mitla.  At  Palenque,  as  at  Mitla, 
the  oldest  work  is  the  most  artistic  and  admirable.  Over 
this  feature  of  the  monuments,  and  the  manifest  signs  of 
their  difference  in  age,  the  attention  of  investigators  has 
lingered  in  speculation.  They  find  in  them  a  signifi 
cance  which  is  stated  as  follows  by  Brasseur  de  Bour- 
bourg:  "Among  the  edifices  forgotten  by  time  in  the 
forests  of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  we  find  archi 
tectural  characteristics  so  different  from  each  other,  that  it 
is  as  impossible  to  attribute  them  all  to  the  same  people 
as  to  believe  they  were  all  built  at  the  same  epoch."  In 
his  view, "  the  substructions  at  Mayapan,  some  of  those 
at  Tulha,  and  a  great  part  of  those  at  Palenque,"  are 
among  the  older  remains.  These  are  not  the  oldest 
cities  whose  remains  are  still  visible,  but  they  may  have 
been  built,  in  part,  upon  the  foundations  of  cities  much 
more  ancient. 

NOTHING    PERISHABLE    LEFT. 

ISTo  well  considered  theory  of  these  ruins  can  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  most  of  them  are  very  ancient,  and  that, 
to  find  the  origin  of  the  civilization  they  represent,  we 
must  go  far  back  into  the  "  deeps  of  antiquity."  On  all 
the  fields  of  desolation  where  they  exist,  every  thing  per 
ishable  has  disappeared.  Wooden  lintels  are  mention 
ed,  but  these  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  constituting  an 
exception  when  the  character  of  the  wood,  and  the  cir- 


Antiquity  of  the  Ruins.  15V 

cumstances  that  contributed  to  their  preservation,  are 
considered.  Moreover,  wooden  lintels  seem  to  have  been 
peculiar  to  Yucatan,  where  many  of  the  great  edifices 
were  constructed  in  the  later  times,  and  some  of  them 
of  perishable  materials.  Every  where  in  the  older  ruins, 
nothing  remains  but  the  artificial  mounds  and  founda 
tions  of  earth,  the  stone,  the  cement,  the  stucco  hard  as 
marble,  and  other  imperishable  materials  used  by  the 
builders. 

If  the  edifices  had  all  been  made  of  wood,  there  would 
now  be  nothing  to  show  us  that  the  older  cities  had  ever 
existed.  Every  trace  of  them  would  have  been  obliter 
ated  long  before  our  time,  and  most  of  them  wTould  have 

O  ' 

disappeared  entirely  long  before  the  country  was  seen  by 
the  Spaniards.  The  places  where  they  stood,  with  no 
relics  save  the  mounds  and  pyramidal  platforms,  would 
resemble  the  works  of  our  Mound-Builders,  and  not  a 
few  "  sound  historical  critics"  would  consider  it  in  the 
highest  degree  absurd  to  suggest  that  cities  with  such 
structures  have  ever  existed  there.  Under  the  circum 
stances  supposed,  how  wisely  skepticism  could  talk  against 
a  suggestion  of  this  kind  at  Copan,  Mitla,  or  Palenque ! 
and  how  difficult  it  would  be  to  find  a  satisfactory  an 
swer  to  its  reasonings !  Nevertheless,  those  mysterious 
structures  have  not  wrholly  disappeared,  and  we  can  easi 
ly  understand  that  there  was  a  time  when  large  areas 
connected  with  them  were  covered  with  buildings  of  a 
less  durable  character. 

I  have  referred  to  a  writer  who  maintains,  with  more 
vehemence  than  candor,  that  the  Aztecs,  and  all  the  oth- 


158  Ancient  America. 

er  peopie  found  in  the  country,  were  "savages"  not 
greatly  different  from  the  wild  Indians  farther  north, 
while  he  admits  the  significance  and  great  antiquity  of 
these  ruins.  His  conception  of  their  antiquity  is  some 
what  extreme,  for  he  says  they  must  have  existed  "  for 
thousands  of  years"  when  the  Spaniards  arrived.  If  he 
had  maintained  that  civilized  communities  were  there 
"  thousands  of  years"  previous  to  that  time,  developing 
the  skill  in  architecture,  decoration,  and  writing,  to 
which  the  monuments  bear  witness,  it  might  be  possible 
to  agree  with  him.  Some  of  us,  however,  would  proba 
bly  stipulate  that  he  should  not  count  too  many  "  thou 
sands,"  nor  claim  a  similar  antiquity  for  the  ruins  now 
visible.  It  is  not  easy  to  suppose  that  any  of  these  old 
monuments,  with  their  well  preserved  sculptures  and  in 
scriptions,  represent  the  first  period  of  the  ancient  his 
tory  they  suggest,  nor  that  they  have  existed  as  ruins 
many  "thousands  of  years,"  for  the  climate  of  Mexico 
and  Central  America  does  not  preserve  such  remains  like 
that  of  Egypt. 

Nevertheless,  some  of  them  must  be  very  old.  The 
forest  established  since  the  ruin  began,  the  entire  disap 
pearance  of  every  thing  more  perishable  than  stone,  the 
utter  oblivion  which  veiled  their  history  in  the  time  of 
Montezuma,  and  probably  long  previous  to  his  time,  all 
these  facts  bear  witness  to  ^their  great  antiquity.  In 
many  of  them,  as  at  Quirigua  and  Kabah,  the  stone 
structures  have  become  masses  of  debris;  and  even  at 
Copan,  Palenque,  and  Mitla,  only  a  few  of  them  are  suf- 
ficently  well  preserved  to  show  us  what  they  were  in  the 


Antiquity  of  the  Ruins.  159 

great  days  of  their  history.  Meanwhile,  keep  in  mind 
that  the  ruined  cities  did  not  begin  their  present  condi 
tion  until  the  civilization  that  created  them  had  declined  ; 
and,  also,  that  if  we  could  determine  exactly  the  date 
when  they  were  deserted  and  left  to  decay,  we  should 
only  reach  that  point  in  the  past  where  their  history  as 
inhabited  cities  was  brought  to  a  close. 

Take  Copan,  for  instance.  This  city  may  have  become 
a  ruin  during  the  time  of  the  Toltecs,  which  began  long 
before  the  Christian  era,  and  ended  some  five  or  six  cen 
turies  probably  before  the  country  was  invaded  by  Cor- 
tez.  It  was  built  before  their  time,  for  the  style  of  writ 
ing,  and  many  features  of  the  architecture  and  orna 
mentation,  show  the  workmanship  of  their  predecessors, 
judging  by  the  historical  intimations  found  in  the  old 
books  and  traditions.  We  may  suppose  it  to  have  been 
an  old  city  at  the  time  of  the  Toltec  invasion,  although 
not  one  of  the  first  cities  built  by  that  more  ancient  and 
more  cultivated  people  by  whom  this  old  American  civ 
ilization  was  originated.  The  present  condition  of  the 
monuments  at  Quirigua  is  still  more  suggestive  of  great 
age. 

"THE  OLDEST  OF  CIVILIZATIONS." 
Some  investigators,  who  have  given  much  study  to  the 
antiquities,  traditions,  old  books,  and  probable  geological 
history  of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  believe  that  the 
first  civilization  the  world  ever  saw  appeared  in  this  part 
of  Ancient  America,  or  was  immediately  connected  with 
it.  They  hold  that  tBe  human  race  first  rose  to  civilized 


1GO  Ancient  America. 

life  in  America,  which  is,  geologically,  the  oldest  of  the 
continents ;  and  that,  ages  ago,  the  portion  of  this  conti 
nent  on  which  the  first  civilizers  appeared  was  sunk  be 
neath  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Usually  the 
ingulfing  of  this  portion  of  the  land  is  supposed  to  have 
been  effected  by  some  tremendous  convulsion  of  nature ; 
and  there  is  appeal  to  recollections  of  such  a  catastro 
phe,  said  to  have  been  preserved  in  the  old  books  of 
Central  America,  and  also  in  those  of  Egypt,  from  which 
Solon  received  an  account  of  the  lost  Atlantis. 

According  to  this  hypothesis,  the  American  continent 
formerly  extended  from  Mexico,  Central  America,  and 
New  Granada  far  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  toward  Eu 
rope  and  Africa,  covering  all  the  space  now  occupied  by 
the  Caribbean  Sea,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  West  In 
dia  islands,  and  going  far  beyond  them  toward  the  east 
and  northeast.  This  lost  portion  of  the  continent  was 
the  Atlantis  of  which  the  old  annals  of  Egypt  told  so 
much  in  the  time  of  Solon,  as  we  learn  from  Plato ;  and 
it  was  the  original  seat  of  the  first  human  civilization^ 
which,  after  the  great  cataclysm,  was  renewed  and  per 
petuated  in  the  region  where  we  now  trace  the  myste 
rious  remains  of  ancient  cities.  Those  desiring  to  know 
what  can  be  said  in  support  of  this  view  of  Ancient 
America  must  read  the  later  volumes  of  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg,  especially  his  "Quatre  Lettres  sur  le  Mex- 
ique,"  and  his  "  Sources  de  1'Histoire  Primitive  du  Mex- 
ique,"  etc.  He  is  not  a  perspicuous  writer ;  he  uses  but 
little  system  in  treating  the  subject,  and  he  introduces 
many  fanciful  speculations  which,  do  mpre  to  embarrass 


Antiquity  of  the  Ruins.  161 

than  to  help  the  discussion ;  but  those  who  read  the 
books  patiently  can  find  and  bring  together  all  that  re 
lates  to  the  point  in  question,  and  consider  it  in  their 
own  way.  They  can  also  find  it  set  forth  and  defended 
in  a  small  volume  by  George  Catlin,  entitled  "  The  Lift 
ed  and  Subsided  Rocks  of  America,"  published  in  Lon 
don,  not  long  since,  by  Triibner  and  Company. 

I  shall  give  more  attention  to  this  theory  in  the  next 
chapter.  1  refer  to  it  here  on  account  of  the  very  great 
antiquity  it  claims  for  the  ancient  American  civilization. 
It  represents  that  the  advanced  human  development 
whose  crumbling  monuments  are  studied  at  Copan,  Mit- 
la,  and  Palenque  antedates  every  thing  else  in  the  human 
period  of  our  globe,  excepting,  perhaps,  an  earlier  time 
of  barbarism  and  pastoral  simplicity;  that  its  history 
goes  back  through  all  the  misty  ages  of  pre-historic  time 
to  an  unknown  date  previous  to  the  beginning  of  such 
civilization  in  any  part  of  the  Old  World.  It  is  hardly 
possible  to  make  it  more  ancient. 

AMERICAN    CITIES    SEEN   BY   TYKIANS. 

The  view  just  stated  touches  the  imagination  and  stirs 
the  feelings  like  a  genuine  "wonder  story;"  but  this 
should  not  be  allowed  to  deny  it  a  fair  hearing.  Those 
who  reject  it  should  disprove  it  before  they  hasten  to 
pronounce  it  "  absurd"  and  "  impossible,"  else  it  may  be 
suspected  that  their  accustomed  views  of  antiquity  are 
due  more  to  education,  and  to  the  habit  of  following  a 
given  fashion  of  thinking,  than  to  actual  reflection.  It 
needs  demonstration ;  and  we  may  reasonably  suggest 


162  Ancient  America. 

that,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  of  the  past, 
demonstration  is  impossible.  Meanwhile,  a  clear  histor 
ical  record  appears  to  make  it  certain  that  flourishing 
towns  and  cities  were  seen  and  visited  in  America  three 
thousand  years  ago,  by  persons  who  went  to  them  across 
the  Atlantic. 

It  is  said,  more  or  less  clearly,  by  more  than  one  Greek 
writer,  that  the  Phoenicians  and  Carthaginians  knew  the 
way  to  a  continent  beyond  the  Atlantic.  One  fact  pre 
served  in  the  annals  of  Tyrian  commerce,  and  mentioned 
by  several  ancient  writers,  is  related  by  Diodorus  Siculus 
very  particularly  as  a  matter  of  authentic  history.  His 
narration  begins  with  the  following  statement : 

"  Over  against  Africa  lies  a  very  great  island,  in  the 
vast  ocean,  many  days'  sail  from  Libya  westward.  The 
soil  there  is  very  fruitful,  a  great  part  whereof  is  moun 
tainous,  but  much  likewise  champaign,  which  is  the  most 
sweet  and  pleasant  part,  for  it  is  watered  by  several  nav 
igable  streams,  and  beautified  with  many  gardens  of 
pleasure  planted  with  divers  sorts  of  trees  and  an  abun 
dance  of  orchards.  The  towns  are  adorned  with  stately 
buildings  and  banqueting  houses  pleasantly  situated  in 
their  gardens  and  orchards."  The  great  ruins  in  Yuca 
tan,  and  elsewhere  in  Mexico  and  Central  America,  bear 
witness  that  there  was,  anciently,  such  a  country  as  this, 
across  the  ocean, "  many  days'  sail  from  Libya  westward ;" 
but  Diodorus  Siculus  lived  before  the  Christian  era,  and 
how  was  this  known  to  him  and  others  more  than  fif 
teen  hundred  years  before  America  was  discovered  by 
Columbus?  He  tells  us  as  follows:  "The  Phoenicians 


Antiquity  of  the  Ruins.  163 

(Tyrians)  having  found  out  the  coasts  beyond  the  Pillars 
of  Hercules,  sailed  along  by  the  coast  of  Africa.  One 
of  their  ships,  on  a  sudden,  was  driven  by  a  furious  storm 
far  off  into  the  main  ocean.  After  they  had  lain  under 
this  violent  tempest  many  days,  they  at  length  arrived  at 
this  island." 

This  reminds  us  of  the  constrained  voyage  of  Biarni, 
the  Northman,  from  Iceland  to  the  coast  of  Massachu 
setts,  in  the  year  985  A.D.*  He,  too,  was  storm-driven 
"  many  days,"  and  in  this  way  forced  to  the  discovery  of 
New  England.  lie  started  for  Greenland,  and  finally 
reached  it  by  way  of  Martha's  Vineyard  and  Cape  Cod. 
The  tempest-driven  ship  of  the  Tyrians  must  have  been 
carried  to  the  West  Indies,  and  to  the  coast  of  Honduras 
or  Yucatan,  where  the  Tyrians  saw  the  gardens,  cities, 
and  stately  edifices.  The  description  of  what  they  saw 
brings  to  mind  similar  accounts  of  what  was  seen  in 
Yucatan  by  the  Spaniards,  when  they  began  to  sail  along 
the  coast  of  that  peninsula  in  the  beginning  of  the  six 
teenth  century ;  Juan  Diaz  de  Solis  and  Vincente  Yaiiez 
Pingon  in  1506,  and  Hernandez  de  Cordova  in  1517. 
They,  too,  saw  handsome  towns  and  stately  buildings. 

This  undesigned  voyage  of  the  Tyrian  ship  seems  to 
have  been  made  previous  to  the  building  of  Gadir,  or 
Gades.  Perhaps  they  made  other  voyages  to  that  re 
gion,  but  it  was  a  custom  of  the  Phoenicians  to  be  very 
secret  in  regard  to  the  methods  and  paths  of  their  com 
merce.  A  complete  history  of  their  commerce  and  navi 
gation  from  the  earliest  times  would  unquestionably  give 
*  See  Appendix  A. 


164  Ancient  America. 

us  views  of  the  past  quite  as  startling  to  the  prevalent 
assuming,  unreasoning  habits  of  belief,  or  rather  disbe 
lief,  concerning  antiquity,  as  that  hypothesis  of  Atlantis 
and  the  earliest  civilization.  What  is  told  by  Diodorus 
authorizes  us  to  suppose  that  the  Tynans  who  went 
across  the  Atlantic  as  described  beheld  some  of  the  an 
cient  American  cities  which  are  now  found  in  ruins,  for 
it  is  certain  that  nothing  of  the  kind  existed  any  where 
else  "many  days'  sail  from  Libya  [Northern  Africa] 
westward."  Their  voyage  was  made  more  than  eleven 
hundred  years  previous  to  the  Christian  era.  If  the  old 
Central  American  books  may  be  trusted,  this  was  not 
very  long  previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  Toltec  domi 
nation. 

Beyond  this  date,  the  history  of  the  "Colhuas,"  who 
are  described  as  the  original  civilizers,  must  have  cover 
ed  a  very  long  period ;  how  long  we  may  imagine,  but 
can  not  know.  Gadir,  now  Cadiz,  founded  eleven  hun 
dred  years  previous  to  the  Christian  era,  is  still  an  inhab 
ited  city ;  it  has  been  several  times  reconstructed,  but 
never  deserted.  When  it  was  built,  Tartessus,  then  a 
very  old  city,  still  existed,  although  it  was  in  ruins  long 
before  Christ  appeared.  How  long  had  Palenque  been 
in  existence  when  that  Tyrian  ship  wras  driven  across  the 
Atlantic  ?  And  how  long  had  that  region  been  a  region 
of  cities  and  civilization  ?  There  is  no  history  which 
can  answer  these  questions. 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilization  f          165 


VII. 

WHENCE  CAME  THAT  OLD  CIVILIZATION? 

VARIOUS  theories,  some  of  them  very  wild  and  irra 
tional,  have  been  advanced  to  explain  the  origin  of  what 
is  seen  in  these  relics  of  Ancient  America.  If  it  had 
been  the  fashion  to  explore  and  study  them  as  their  im 
portance  deserves,  as  Egypt  and  Nineveh  have  been  ex 
plored  and  studied,  onr  knowledge  of  them  would  now 
be  much  more  extensive  and  valuable,  and  it  might  be 
possible  to  go  farther  toward  a  solution  of  the  problem 
they  present  But  not  many  persons  have  sought  to  ex 
plore  and  understand  these  remains,  and  not  more  than 
two  or  three  have  really  sought  in  earnest  to  examine 
the  old  traditions  and  books  of  the  country.  The  abun 
dant  inscriptions  at  Palenque  fade  in  their  forest  soli 
tude  while  waiting  for  the  Champollion  who  shall  inter 
pret  their  mysteries.  Something  is  known,  but  we  have 
no  history  of  these  old  cities,  no  authentic  historical  rec 
ord  of  the  people  who  built  them.  Therefore  theorizing 
has  very  naturally  been  stimulated  to  great  activity,  and 
most  of  this  theorizing  has  been  regulated  by  the  old, 
unreasoning  assumption  that  civilization  found  in  any 
place,  especially  in  the  olden  times,  must  have  been 
brought  and  established  there  as  a  foreign  production. 
Generally  the  hypotheses  used  in  this  case  have  presumed 


166  Ancient  America. 

as  a  matter  of  course  that  the  original  civilizers  came  to 
this  continent  from  Europe  or  Asia. 

THE    "LOST   TRIBES    OF   ISKAEL." 

One  of  these  theories  is  (or  was),  that  the  original  civ 
ilizers  of  Mexico  and  Central  America  were  the  "lost 
ten  tribes  of  Israel."  This  extremely  remarkable  expla 
nation  of  the  mystery  was  devised  very  early,  and  it  has 
been  persistently  defended  by  some  persons,  although 
nothing  can  be  more  unwarranted  or  more  absurd.  It 
was  put  forward  by  the  Spanish  monks  who  first  estab 
lished  missions  in  the  country,  a  class  of  men  to  whom 
the  world  is  indebted  for  a  great  variety  of  amazing  con 
tributions  to  the  literature  of  hagiology ;  and  the  game 
men,  in  a  way  equally  conclusive,  explained  the  sculp 
tured  crosses  found  in  the  old  ruins  by  assuming  that 
the  Gospel  was  preached  in  America  by  St.  Thomas. 
Lord  Kingsborough  adopted  their  views,  and  gave  up 
nearly  the  whole  of  one  of  his  immense  volumes  on 
Mexican  Antiquities  to  an  elaborate  digest  of  all  that 
had  been  written  to  explain  and  support  these  absurdi 
ties.  Others  have  maintained  this  Israelitish  hypothesis 
without  deeming  it  necessary  to  estimate  in  a  reasonable 
way  what  was  possible  to  those  Israelites. 

According  to  this  truly  monkish  theory,  the  "  lost  ten 
tribes  of  Israel"  left  Palestine,  Syria,  Assyria,  or  what 
ever  country  they  dwelt  in  at  the  time,  traversed  the 
whole  extent  of  Asia,  crossed  over  into  America  at  Behr- 
ing's  Strait,  went  down  the  Pacific  coast,  and  established 
a  wonderful  civilization  in  that  part  of  the  continent 


WJience  came  that  Old  Civilization  f          167 

where  the  great  ruins  are  found.  The  kingdom  of  the 
ten  tribes  was  destroyed  not  long  previous  to  the  year 
700  B.C.  How  many  years  are  allowed,  after  their  es 
cape  from  captivity,  for  this  unparalleled  journey,  has 
not  yet  been  ascertained.  But,  if  such  a  journey  had 
been  possible,  it  would  have  resulted  in  utter  barbarism 
rather  than  any  notable  phase  of  civilized  life.  Even 
the  Jews  wTho  remained  faithful  to  Moses,  although  im 
portant  on  account  of  their  scriptures  and  their  religion, 
were  not  remarkable  for  civilization.  They  were  inca 
pable  of  building  their  own  Temple  without  aid  from 
the  Tyrians.  Moreover,  there  is  not  any  where  either  a 
fact,  a  suggestion,  or  a  circumstance  of  any  kind  to  show 
that  the  "  lost  ten  tribes"  ever  left  the  countries  of  South 
western  Asia,  where  they  dwelt  after  the  destruction  of 
their  kingdom.  They  were  "  lost"  to  the  Jewish  nation 
because  they  rebelled,  apostatized,  and,  after  their  subju 
gation  by  the  Assyrians  in  721  B.C.,  were  to  a  great  ex 
tent  absorbed  by  other  peoples  in  that  part  of  Asia. 
Some  of  them  probably  were  still  in  Palestine  when 
Christ  appeared.  This  wild  notion,  called  a  theory, 
scarcely  deserves  so  much  attention.  It  is  a  lunatic  fan 
cy,  possible  only  to  men  of  a  certain  class,  which  in  our 
time  does  not  multiply. 

THE  "MALAY"  THEORY. 

Another  hypothesis,  much  less  improbable,  though  not 
satisfactory,  is  that  civilization  was  brought  to  America 
in  ancient  times  by  the  Malays.  There  was  a  great  isl 
and  empire  of  the  Malays,  whose  history  extended  far 


168  Ancient  America. 

back  into  pre-historic  times,  how  far  hack  can  not  now 
be  known.  It  was  still  in  existence  when  the  Portu 
guese  first  went  to  India  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ; 
and  we  have  several  accounts  of  this  empire  written  by 
travelers  who  saw  and  described  it  six  hundred  years  be 
fore  this  first  Indian  voyage  of  the  Portuguese  was  un 
dertaken.  El  Mas'iidi,  who  was  one  of  these  travelers, 
used  very  strong  terms  to  describe  its  extent,  intelligence, 
and  power.  Speaking  of  its  sovereign,  he  said,  "  The 
islands  under  his  sceptre  are  so  numerous  that  the  fast 
est  sailing  vessel  is  not  able  to  go  round  them  in  two 
years,"  implying  that  his  sway  was  acknowledged  by  the 
island  world  over  a  large  portion  of  the  Pacific.  This 
Malayan  empire  was  maritime  and  commercial ;  it  had 
fleets  of  great  ships  ;  and  there  is  evidence  that  its  influ 
ence  reached  most  of  the  Pacific  islands.  This  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  dialects  of  the  Malay  language  have 
been  found  in  most  of  these  islands  as  far  in  this  direc 
tion  as  Easter  Island.  The  language  of  the  Sandwich 
Islanders,  for  instance,  is  Malayan,  and  has  a  close  rela 
tionship  to  that  now  spoken  in  the  Malay  islands. 

The  metropolis  of  this  great  empire  was  in  the  island 
of  Java,  where  old  ruins  still  bear  witness  to  the  former 
"civilization,  wealth,  and  splendor"  celebrated  by  El 
Mas'udi.  Mr.  A.  E.Wallace,  in  his  work  on  the  Malay 
Archipelago,  says, "  Few  Englishmen  are  aware  of  the 
number  and  beauty  of  the  architectural  remains  in  Java. 
They  have  never  been  popularly  illustrated  or  described, 
and  it  will  therefore  take  most  persons  by  surprise  to 
learn  that  they  far  surpass  those  of  Central  America, 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilization?  169 

perhaps  even  those  of  India."  The  purpose  of  his  visit 
to  the  island  did  not  allow  him  to  explore  ruins,  but  he 
describes  some  of  them.  He  saw  what  still  remains  of 
an  ancient  city  called  "Mod  jo-pah  it,"  and  says,  "There 
were  two  lofty  brick  masses,  apparently  the  sides  of  a 
gateway.  The  extreme  perfection  and  beauty  of  the 
brick-work  astonished  me.  The  bricks  are  exceedingly 
fine  and  hard,  with  sharp  angles  and  true  surfaces.  They 
were  laid  with  great  exactness,  without  visible  mortar  or 
cement,  yet  somehow  fastened  together  so  that  the  joints 
are  hardly  perceptible,  and  sometimes  the  two  surfaces 
coalesce  in  a  most  incomprehensible  manner.  Such  ad 
mirable  brick- work  I  have  never  seen  before  or  since. 
There  was  no  sculpture  here,  but  abundance  of  bold  pro 
jections  and  finely-worked  mouldings.  Traces  of  build 
ings  exist  for  many  miles  in  every  direction,  and  almost 
every  road  and  pathway  shows  a  foundation  of  brick 
work  beneath  it,  the  paved  roads  of  the  old  city."  In 
other  places  he  saw  sculptures  and  beautifully  carved 
figures  in  high  relief. 

The  Malays  still  read  and  write,  have  some  literature, 
and  retain  many  of  the  arts  and  usages  of  civilization, 
but  they  are  now  very  far  below  the  condition  indicated 
by  these  ruins,  and  described  by  El  Mas'iidi,  who  trav 
eled  among  them  a  thousand  years  ago.  It  is  by  no 
means  improbable  that  their  ships  visited  the  western 
coast  of  America,  and  traded  with  the  ancient  Mexicans 
and  Peruvians  in  the  days  of  their  greatest  power  and 
activity.  It  is  not  easy  to  believe  they  could  fail  to  do 
so  after  taking  such  control  of  Easter  Island  as  to  leave 

II 


170  Ancient  America, 

their  language  there;  and,  according  to  the  old  tradi 
tions  of  both  Mexico  and  Peru,  the  Pacific  coast  in  both 
countries  was  anciently  visited  by  a  foreign  people  who 
came  in  ships.  But  they  did  not  come  to  America  as 
civilizers ;  there  is  nothing  Malayan  in  either  the  antiq 
uities  or  the  ancient  speech  of  these  countries. 

What  is  known  of  the  former  great  condition  and 
power  of  the  Malays  furnishes  important  suggestions 
relative  to  the  ancient  history  of  the  islands  of  Eastern 
Asia  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,*  as  well  as  those  of  the  In 
dian  Ocean. 

The  people  who  inhabit  the  eastern  side  of  Formosa, 
it  is  said,  use  a  Malay  dialect,  and  have  no  resemblance 
whatever  to  the  Mongols.  Who  can  fully  explain  the 
little  known  Ainos,  who  formerly  occupied  the  whole,  or 
nearly  the  whole  of  Japan  ?  The  unmistakable  traces 
of  Malay  influence  every  where  in  the  islands  of  the  Pa 
cific  can  have  but  one  meaning.  The  Malays  formerly 
sailed  on  that  ocean,  occupied  its  islands,  and  doubtless 
visited  America. 

That  there  \vas  communication  between  Eastern  Asia 
and  America  in  very  ancient  times,  through  the  Malays 
or  otherwise,  is  in  a  high  degree  probable.  This  con 
tinent  wTas  known  to  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  long  be 
fore  the  time  of  Columbus.  Accounts  of  it  were  record 
ed  in  their  books  previous  to  his  time.  They  called  it 
u  Fusang,"  and  evidently,  at  some  period,  had  been  ac 
customed  to  make  voyages  to  some  part  of  the  Ameri 
can  coast.  But  neither  the  Malays,  the  Chinese,  nor  the 
*  See  Appendix  C. 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilization  ?          171 

Japanese  came  here  as  civilizers,  for  there  is  no  trace  of 
either  of  these  peoples  in  the  old  ruins,  in  the  ancient 
language  of  the  country,  or  in  any  thing  we  know  of  the 
people  whom  these  American  ruins  represent. 

THE    PHOENICIAN    THEOEY. 

Some  of  the  more  intelligent  investigators  have  main 
tained,  with  no  little  confidence,  that  this  ancient  Amer 
ican  civilization  came  originally  from  the  Phoenicians. 
Among  those  who  use  reason  in  their  inquiries  sufficient 
ly  to  be  incapable  of  accepting  the  absurdities  of  monk 
ish  fancy,  this  hypothesis  has  found  more  favor  than  any 
other.  Wherever  inquiry  begins  by  assuming  that  the 
original  civilizers  came  from  some  other  part  of  the 
world,  it  seems  more  reasonable  than  any  other,  for  more 
can  be  said  to  give  it  the  appearance  of  probability. 

The  people  known  to  us  as  Phoenicians  were  pre-emi 
nent  as  the  colonizing  navigators  of  antiquity.  They 
were  an  enlightened  and  enterprising  maritime  people, 
whose  commerce  traversed  every  known  sea,  and  extend 
ed  its  operations  beyond  the  "  Pillars  of  Hercules"  into 
the  "  great  exterior  ocean."  The  early  Greeks  called 
them  Ethiopians  (not  meaning  either  black  men  or  Afri 
cans),  and  said  they  went  every  where,  establishing  their 
colonies  and  their  commerce  in  all  the  coast  regions, 
"  from  the  extreme  east  to  the  extreme  west."  But  the 
great  ages  of  this  people  are  in  the  distant  past,  far  be 
yond  the  beginning  of  what  we  call  history.  History 
has  knowledge  only  of  a  few  of  their  later  communi 
ties,  the  Sabeans  of  Southern  Arabia,  the  Phoenicians 


172  Ancient  America. 

(meaning  chiefly  the  Tyrians),  and  the  Carthaginians. 
What  a  change  there  would  be  in  the  prevalent  concep 
tions  of  the  past  if  we  could  have  a  complete  record  of 
this  race  from  the  beginning  of  its  development ! 

It  is  not  difficult  to  believe  that  communities  of  the 
Phoenician  or  Ethiopian  race  were  established  all  around 
the  Mediterranean,  and  even  beyond  the  Strait  of  Gib 
raltar,  in  ages  quite  as  old  as  Egypt  or  Chaldea,  and 
that  they  had  communication  with  America  before  Tyre 
or  Sidon  was  built.  Why  did  the  ancients  say  so  much 
of  a  "  great  Saturnian  continent"  beyond  the  Atlantic  if 
nobody  in  the  pre-historic  ages  had  ever  seen  that  con 
tinent  ?  It  was  there,  as  they  said  and  as  we  know ;  but 
whence  came  their  knowledge  of  it,  and  such  knowledge 
as  led  them  to  describe  it  as  "  larger  than  Asia  (meaning 
Asia  Minor),  Europe,  and  Libya  together  ?"  This  an 
cient  belief  must  have  been  due  to  Phoenician  or  Ethi 
opian  communication  with  America  in  earlier  times, 
which  was  imperfectly  recollected,  or  perhaps  never  com 
pletely  revealed  to  other  nations;  and  this  must  have 
taken  place  at  a  very  remote  period,  for  imperfect  rec 
ollection  of  the  great  continent  across  the  Atlantic,  in 
cluding  what  Solon  heard  in  Egypt  of  Atlantis,  was  more 
ancient  than  the  constrained  voyage  of  that  Tyrian  ship 
of  which  Diodorus  Siculus  gives  an  accotmt ;  and  it  can 
be  seen  that  the  early  Greeks  had  a  better  knowledge 
even  of  Western  Europe  than  those  of  later  times.  A 
dark  age,  so  far  as  relates  to  geographical  knowledge,  set 
in  upon  the  countries  around  the  ^Egean  Sea  and  on  the 
coast  of  Asia  Minor  after  the  independence  and  enter- 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilisation  f          173 

prise  of  Tyre  and  the  other  Phoenician  cities  were  de 
stroyed  by  the  Assyrians,  toward  the  close  of  the  ninth 
century  before  Christ,  which  was  disturbed  some  four 
hundred  and  fifty  or  five  hundred  years  later  by  the 
conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great. 

The  known  enterprise  of  the  Phoenician  race,  and  this 
ancient  knowledge  of  America,  so  variously  expressed, 
strongly  encourage  the  hypothesis  that  the  people  called 
Phoenicians  came  to  this  continent,  established  colonies 
in  the  region  where  ruined  cities  are  found,  and  filled  it 
with  civilized  life.  It  is  argued  that  they  made  voyages 
on  the  "  great  exterior  ocean,"  and  that  such  navigators 
must  have  crossed  the  Atlantic;  and  it  is  added  that 
symbolic  devices  similar  to  those  of  the  Phoenicians  are 
found  in  the  American  ruins,  and  that  an  old  tradition 
of  the  native  Mexicans  and  Central  Americans  described 
the  first  civilizers  as  "  bearded  white  men,"  who  "  came 
from  the  East  in  ships."  Therefore,  it  is  urged,  the  peo 
ple  described  in  the  native  books  and  traditions  as  "  Col- 
huas"  must  have  been  Phoenicians. 

But  if  it  were  true  that  the  civilization  found  in  Mex 
ico  and  Central  America  came  from  people  of  the  Phoe 
nician  race,  it  would  be  true  also  that  they  built  in  Amer 
ica  as  they  never  built  any  where  else,  that  they  estab 
lished  a  language  here  radically  unlike  their  own,  and 
that  they  used  a  style  of  writing  totally  different  from 
that  which  they  carried  into  every  other  region  occupied 
by  their  colonies.  All  the  forms  of  alphabetical  writing 
used  at  present  in  Europe  and  Southwestern  Asia  came 
directly  or  indirectly  from  that  anciently  invented  by  the 


174  Ancient  America. 

race  to  which  the  Phoenicians  belonged,  and  they  have 
traces  of  a  common  relationship  which  can  easily  be  de 
tected.  Now  the  writing  of  the  inscriptions  at  Palenque, 
Copan,  and  elsewhere  in  the  ruins  has  no  more  related- 
ness  to  the  Phoenician  than  to  the  Chinese  writing,  It 
has  not  a  single  characteristic  that  can  be  called  Phoeni 
cian  any  more  than  the  language  of  the  inscriptions  or 
the  style  of  architecture  with  which  it  is  associated ; 
therefore  we  can  not  reasonably  suppose  this  American 
civilization  was  originated  by  people  of  the  Phoenician 
race,  whatever  may  be  thought  relative  to  the  supposed 
ancient  communication  between  the  two  continents  and 
its  probable  influence  on  civilized  communities  already 
existing  here. 

THE  "  ATLANTIC"  THEORY. 

I  have  already  stated  in  general  terms  the  hypothesis 
advanced  by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  and  some  other 
writers.  This  may  be  called  the  "  Atlantic"  theory,  for 
it  attributes  the  civilization  of  Ancient  America  to  the 
Atlantides  or  Atlantic  race,  who  occupied  the  lost  "  isl 
and  of  Atlantis."  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  has  studied 
the  monuments,  writings,  and  traditions  left  by  this  civ 
ilization  more  carefully  and  thoroughly  than  any  other 
man  living.  He  has  fancies  which  may  be  safely  re 
jected,  and  he  has  theories  which,  doubtless,  will  always 
lack  confirmation;  but  he  has  much,  also,  which  de 
mands  respectful  consideration.  There  is  a  great  deal 
in  his  books  to  provoke  criticism ;  those  well  acquainted 
with  the  antiquities  and  ancient  speech  of  Egypt  may 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilization  f          175 

reasonably  give  way  to  a  smile  of  incredulity  while 
reading  what  he  says  in  support  of  the  notion  that  the 
great  civilization  of  Egypt  also  came  originally  from 
this  Atlantic  race.  'Nevertheless,  his  volumes  are  im 
portant,  because  they  furnish  materials  which  others  can 
use  more  carefully,  and  because  he  has  learned  to  deci 
pher  some  of  the  Central  American  writings  and  brought 
to  view  certain  paths  of  inquiry  which  others  may  pur 
sue  with  a  more  rigid  method. 

As  already  stated,  his  Atlantic  theory  of  the  old  Amer 
ican  civilization  is,  that  it  was  originated  on  this  conti 
nent,  but  on  a  portion  of  the  continent  which  is  now  bp- 
low  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It  supposes  the 
continent  extended,  anciently,  from  New  Granada,  Cen 
tral  America,  and  Mexico  in  a  long,  irregular  peninsula, 
so  far  across  the  Atlantic  that  the  Canary,  Madeira,  and 
Azores  or  Western  Islands  may  be  remains  of  this  por 
tion  of  it.  High  mountains  stood  where  we  now  find 
the  West  India  islands.  Beyond  these,  toward  Africa 
and  Europe,  was  a  great  extent  of  fertile  and  beautiful 
land,  and  here  arose  the  first  civilization  of  mankind, 
which  flourished  many  ages,  until  at  length  this  extend 
ed  portion  of  the  continent  was  ingulfed  by  a  tremen 
dous  convulsion  of  nature,  or  by  a  succession  of  such 
convulsions  which  made  the  ruin  complete.  After  the 
cataclysm,  a  part  of  the  Atlantic  people  who  escaped  de 
struction  settled  in  Central  America,  where  perhaps  their 
civilization  had  been  previously  introduced.  The  reasons 
urged  in  support  of  this  hypothesis  make  it  seem  plausi* 
ble,  if  not  probable,  to  imaginative  minds. 


176  Ancient  America. 

In  the  first  place,  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  claims  that 
there  is  in  the  old  Central  American  books  a  constant 
tradition  of  an  immense  catastrophe  of  the  character 
supposed  ;  that  this  tradition  existed  every  where  among 
the  people  when  they  first  became  known  to  Europeans ; 
and  that  recollections  of  the  catastrophe  were  preserved 
in  some  of  their  festivals,  especially  in  one  celebrated  in 
the  month  of  Izcalli,  which  was  instituted  to  commemo 
rate  this  frightful  destruction  of  land  and  people,  and  in 
which  "  princes  and  people  humbled  themselves  before 
the  divinity,  and  besought  Him  to  withhold  a  return  of 
such  terrible  calamities."  This  tradition  affirms  that  a 
part  of  the  continent  extending  into  the  Atlantic  was  de 
stroyed  in  the  manner  supposed,  and  appears  to  indicate 
that  the  destruction  was  accomplished  by  a  succession  of 
frightful  convulsions.  Three  are  constantly  mentioned, 
and  sometimes  there  is  mention  of  one  or  two  others. 
"  The  land  was  shaken  by  frightful  earthquakes,  and  the 
waves  of  the  sea  combined  with  volcanic  fires  to  over 
whelm  and  ingulf  it."  Each  convulsion  swept  away  por 
tions  of  the  land,  until  the  whole  disappeared,  leaving 
the  line  of  the  coast  as  it  is  now.  Most  of  the  inhab 
itants,  overtaken  amid  their  regular  employments,  were 
destroyed  ;  but  some  escaped  in  ships,  and  some  fled  for 
safety  to  the  summits  of  high  mountains,  or  to  portions 
of  the  land  which,  for  the  time,  escaped  immediate  de 
struction.  Quotations  are  made  from  the  old  books  in 
which  this  tradition  is  recorded  which  appear  to  verify 
his  report  of  what  is  found  in  them.  To  criticise  intel 
ligently  his  interpretation  of  their  significance,  one  needi 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilization  f  177 

to  have  a  knowledge  of  those  books  and  traditions  equal 
at  least  to  his  own. 

In  the  second  place,  he  appeals  to  the  story  of  Atlan 
tis,  preserved  in  the  annals  of  Egypt,  and  related  to  Solon 
by  the  priests  of  Sais.  It  is  stated  in  Plutarch's  life  of 
Solon  that  while  in  Egypt  "  he  conferred  with  the  priests 
of  Psenophis,  Sonchis,  Heliopolis,  and  Sais,  and  learned 
from  them  the  story  of  Atlantis."  Brasseur  de  Bour- 
bourg  cites  Cousin's  translation  of  Plato's  record  of  this 
story  as  follows : 

"Among  the  great  deeds  of  Athens,  of  which  recol 
lection  is  preserved  in  our  books,  there  is  one  which 
should  be  placed  above  all  others.  Our  books  tell  that 
the  Athenians  destroyed  an  army  which  came  across  the 
Atlantic  Sea,  and  insolently  invaded  Europe  and  Asia ; 
for  this  sea  was  then  navigable,  and  beyond  the  strait 
where  you  place  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  there  was  an 
island  larger  than  Asia  [Minor]  and  Libya  combined. 
From  this  island  one  could  pass  easily  to  the  other  isl 
ands,  and  from  these  to  the  continent  which  lies  around 
the  interior  sea.  The  sea  on  this  side  of  the  strait  (the 
Mediterranean)  of  which  we  speak  resembles  a  harbor 
with  a  narrow  entrance ;  but  there  is  a  genuine  sea,  and 
the  land  which  surrounds  it  is  a  veritable  continent.  In 
the  island  of  Atlantis  reigned  three  kings  with  great  and 
marvelous  power.  They  had  under  their  dominion  the 
whole  of  Atlantis,  several  other  islands,  and  some  parts 
of  the  continent.  At  one  time  their  power  extended 
into  Libya,  and  into  Europe  as  far  as  Tyrrhenia;  and, 
uniting  their  whole  force,  they  sought  to  destroy  our 

112 


178  Ancient  America. 

countries  at  a  blow,  but  their  defeat  stopped  the  invasion 
and  gave  entire  independence  to  all  the  countries  on 
this  side  of  the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  Afterward,  in  one 
day  and  one  fatal  night,  there  came  mighty  earthquakes 
and  inundations,  which  ingulfed  that  warlike  people; 
Atlantis  disappeared  beneath  the  sea,  and  then  that  sea 
became  inaccessible,  so  that  navigation  on  it  ceased  on 
account  of  the  quantity  of  mud  which  the  ingulfed  isl 
and  left  in  its  place." 

This  invasion  took  place  many  ages  before  Athens  was 
known  as  a  Greek  city.  It  is  referred  to  an  extremely 
remote  antiquity.  The  festival  known  as  the  "Lesser 
Panathensea,"  which,  as  symbolic  devices  used  in  it  show, 
commemorated  this  triumph  over  the  Atlantes,  is  said  to 
have  been  instituted  by  the  mythical  Erichthonius  in  the 
earliest  times  remembered  by  Athenian  tradition.  Solon 
had  knowledge  of  the  Atlantes  before  he  went  to  Egypt, 
but  he  heard  there,  for  the  first  time,  this  account  of  their 
"island"  and  of  its  disappearance  in  a  frightful  cata 
clysm.  But  Atlantis  is  mentioned  by  other  ancient  writ 
ers.  An  extract  preserved  in  Proclus,  taken  from  a  work 
now  lost,  which  is  quoted  by  Boeckh  in  his  commentary 
on  Plato,  mentions  islands  in  the  exterior  sea  beyond  the 
Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  says  it  was  known  that  in  one 
of  these  islands  "the  inhabitants  preserved  from  their 
ancestors  a  remembrance  of  Atlantis,  an  extremely  large 
island,  which  for  a  long  time  held  dominion  over  all  the 
islands  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean." 

Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  claims  that  these  traditions,  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  mean  the  same  thing.  The 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilisation  f          179 

"  island  of  Atlantis,"  larger  than  Libya  and  Asia  Minor 
together,  was  the  extended  portion  of  the  American  con 
tinent.  These  concurring  traditions  can  not  be  devoid 
of  historical  significance.  The  constant  references  by 
ancient  Greek  writers  to  the  Atlantes,  who  are  always 
placed  at  the  extremity  of  Europe  and  Africa,  on  the 
ocean  which  bears  their  name,  may  reasonably  be  re 
garded  as  vague  and  faded  recollections  of  such  a  his 
tory  connected  with  that  ocean  as  that  implied  by  what 
was  said  of  their  island  in  the  annals  of  Egypt.  In  sup 
port  of  his  view  of  what  is  meant  by  the  traditions,  he 
adds  this  philological  argument : 

"The  words  Atlas  and  Atlantic  have  no  satisfactory 
etymology  in  any  language  known  to  Europe.  They  are 
not  Greek,  and  can  not  be  referred  to  any  known  lan 
guage  of  the  Old  World.  But  in  the  Nahuatl  language 
we  find  immediately  the  radical  «,  atl,  which  signifies 
water,  war,  and  the  top  of  the  head.  (Molina,  Vocab.  en 
lengua  mexicana  y  castellana,  etc.)  From  this  comes  a 
series  of  words,  such  as  atlan,  on  the  border  of  or  amid 
the  water,  from  which  we  have  the  adjective  Atlantic. 
We  have  also  atlac^a,  to  combat  or  be  in  agony ;  it  means 
likewise  to  hurl  or  dart  from  the  water,  and  in  the  pret 
erit  makes  atlaz.  A  city  named  Atlan  existed  when 
the  continent  was  discovered  by  Columbus,  at  the  en 
trance  of  the  Gulf  of  Uraba,  in  Darien,  with  a  good  har 
bor  ;  it  is  now  reduced  to  an  unimportant  pueblo  named 
Ada? 

In  the  third  place,  he  quotes  opinions  expressed  with 
out  any  regard  whatever  to  his  theory  to  show  that  sci- 


180  Ancient  America. 

entific  men  who  have  considered  the  question  believe 
that  there  was  formerly  a  great  extension  of  the  land 
into  the  Atlantic  in  the  manner  supposed.  The  first 
quotation  is  from  Moreau  de  Saint-Mery's  "  Description 
topographique  et  politique  de  la  Partie  Espagnole  a  1'Isle 
de  Saint-Domingue,"  published  in  1796,  as  follows : 

"  There  are  those  who,  in  examining  the  map  of  Amer 
ica,  do  not  confine  themselves  to  thinking  with  the  French 
Pliny  that  the  innumerable  islands  situated  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Orinoco  to  the  Bahama  Channel  (islands 
which  include  several  Grenadins  not  always  visible  in 
very  high  tides  or  great  agitations  of  the  sea)  should  be 
considered  as  summits  of  vast  mountains  whose  bases 
and  sides  are  covered  with  water,  but  who  go  farther, 
and  suppose  these  islands  to  be  the  tops  of  the  most  ele 
vated  of  a  chain  of  mountains  which  crowned  a  portion 
of  the  continent  whose  submersion  has  produced  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  But  to  sustain  this  opinion  it  must  be 
added  that  another  vast  surface  of  land  which  united  the 
islands  of  this  archipelago  to  the  continent,  from  Yuca 
tan  to  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco,  was  submerged  in  the 
same  way,  and  also  a  third  surface  which  connected  them 
with  the  peninsula  of  Florida  and  with  whatever  land 
may  have  constituted  the  northern  termination ;  for  we 
can  not  imagine  that  these  mountains  whose  summits  ap 
pear  above  water  stood  on  the  terminating  line  of  the 
continent." 

He  quotes,  also,  another  authority  which  "  can  not  be 
suspected,"  namely,  M.  Charles  Martins,  who  said,  in  the 
Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  for  March  1, 1867a  "Now,hy- 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilization?          181 

drography,  geology,  and  botany  agree  in  teaching  us  that 
the  Azores,  the  Canaries,  and  Madeira  are  the  remains 
of  a  great  continent  which  formerly  united  Europe  to 
North  America."  He  could  have  added  other  quota 
tions  in  the  same  strain.  Those  geologists  who  believe 
that  "our  continents  have  long  remained  in  nearly  the 
same  relative  position"  would  probably  give  the  supposed 
change  a  much  greater  antiquity  than  Brasseur  de  Bour- 
bourg  would  be  likely  to  accept ;  and  the  geological 
"  TJniformitarians"  would  deny  with  emphasis  that  so 
great  a  change  in  the  shape  of  a  continent  was  ever  ef 
fected  by  such  means,  or  with  such  rapidity  as  he  sup 
poses.  But  the  latest  and  most  advanced  school  of  ge 
ological  speculation  does  not  exclude  "  Catastrophism," 
and,  therefore,  will  not  deny  the  possibility  of  sudden 
and  great  changes  by  this  method. 

Doubtless  the  antiquity  of  the  human  race  is  much 
greater  than  is  usually  assumed  by  those  whose  views  of 
the  past  are  still  regulated  by  mediseval  systems  of  chro 
nology.  Archaeology  and  linguistic  science,  not  to  speak 
here  of  geology,  make  it  certain  that  the  period  between 
the  beginning  of  the  human  race  and  the  birth  of  Christ 
would  be  more  accurately  stated  if  the  centuries  count 
ed  in  the  longest  estimate  of  the  rabbinical  chronologies 
should  be  changed  to  millenniums.  And  they  present 
also  another  fact,  namely,  that  the  antiquity  of  civiliza 
tion  is  very  great,  and  suggest  that  in  remote  ages  it  may 
have  existed,  with  important  developments,  in  regions  of 
the  earth  now  described  as  barbarous,  and  even,  as  Bras 
seur  de  Bourbourg  supposes,  on  ancient  continents  or 


182  Ancient  America. 

portions  of  continents  now  out  of  sight  below  the  sur 
face  of  the  oceans.  The  representation  of  some  specu 
lators  that  the  condition  of  the  human  race  since  its  iirst 
appearance  on  earth  has  been  a  condition  of  universal 
and  hopeless  savagery  down  to  a  comparatively  modern 
date,  is  an  assumption  merely,  an  unwarranted  assump 
tion  used  in  support  of  an  unproved  and  improvable  the 
ory  of  man's  origin.  Its  use  in  the  name  of  science  by 
advocates  of  this  theory,  like  the  theory  itself,  shows  that 
the  constructive  power  of  fancy  and  imagination  will 
sometimes  supersede  every  thing  else,  and  substitute  its 
ingenious  constructions  for  legitimate  conclusions,  even 
in  scientific  speculation. 

We  may  claim  reasonably  that  Brasseur  de  Bour- 
bourg's  Atlantic  theory  is  not  proved,  and  on  this  ground 
refuse  to  accept  it.  So  far  as  appears,  it  is  a  fanciful 
theory  which  can  not  be  proved.  No  one  is  under  ob 
ligation  to  attempt  disproving  it.  It  may,  in  some  cases, 
win  supporters  by  enlisting  in  its  favor  all  the  forces  of 
imagination,  to  which  it  appeals  with  seductive  plausibil 
ity.  On  the  other  hand,  it  will  be  rejected  without  much 
regard  to  what  can  be  said  in  its  favor,  for  it  interferes 
with  current  unreasoning  beliefs  concerning  antiquity 
and  ancient  history,  and  must  encounter  vehement  con 
tradiction  from  habits  of  thought  fixed  by  these  beliefs. 
True,  some  of  the  stock  views  of  antiquity,  by  which  it 
will  be  earnestly  opposed,  are  themselves  far  more  desti 
tute  of  foundation  in  either  fact  or  reason ;  but  this  will 
make  no  difference,  as  the  habit  of  never  allowing  them 
to  be  subjected  to  the  searching  power  of  reason  does 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilisation  f          183 

not  permit  such  persons  either  to  believe  or  deny  any 
thing  connected  with  this  topic  in  a  reasonable  manner. 

Some  of  the  uses  made  of  this  theory  can  not  endure 
criticism.  For  instance,  when  lie  makes  it  the  basis  of 
an  assumption  that  all  the  civilization  of  the  Old  World 
went  originally  from  America,  and  claims  particularly 
that  the  supposed  "Atlantic  race"  created  Egypt, he  goes 
quite  beyond  reach  of  the  considerations  used  to  give  his 
hypothesis  a  certain  air  of  probability.  It  may  be,  as  he 
says,  that  for  every  pyramid  in  Egypt  there  are  a  thou 
sand  in  Mexico  and  Central  America,  but  the  ruins  in 
Egypt  and  those  in  America  have  nothing  in  common. 
The  two  countries  were  entirely  different  in  their  lan 
guage,  in  their  styles  of  architecture,  in  their  written 
characters,  and  in  the  physical  characteristics  of  their 
earliest  people,  as  they  are  seen  sculptured  or  painted  on 
the  monuments.  An  Egyptian  pyramid  is  no  more  the 
same  thing  as  a  Mexican  pyramid  than  a  Chinese  pago 
da  is  the  same  thing  as  an  English  light-house.  It  was 
not  made  in  the  same  way,  nor  for  the  same  uses.  The 
ruined  monuments  show,  in  generals  and  in  particulars, 
that  the  original  civilizers  in  America  were  profoundly 
different  from  the  ancient  Egyptians.  The  two  peoples 
can  not  explain  each  other. 

This,  however,  does  not  require  us  to  assert  positively 
that  the  Central  American  "  Colhuas"  and  the  legendary 
Atlantes  could  not  possibly  have  been  the  same  people, 
or  people  of  the  same  race.  Room  may  be  left  for  any 
amount  of  conjecture  not  inconsistent  with  known  facts, 
without  making  it  necessary  to  accept  a  theory  of  the 


184  Ancient  America. 

origin  of  the  old  Mexican  race  which  at  present  can  nei 
ther  be  proved  nor  disproved. 

IT   WAS   AN   OKIGINAL   CIVILIZATION. 

It  has  been  said,  very  justly,  by  one  explorer  of  the 
Mexican  and  Central  American  ruins,  that  "  the  Amer 
ican  monuments  are  different  from  those  of  any  other 
known  people,  of  a  new  order,  and  entirely  and  absolute 
ly  anomalous ;  they  stand  alone."  The  more  we  study 
them,  the  more  we  find  it  necessary  to  believe  that  the 
civilization  they  represent  was  originated  in  America, 
and  probably  in  the  region  where  they  are  found.  It 
did  not  come  from  the  Old  World ;  it  was  the  work  of 
some  remarkably  gifted  branch  of  the  race  found  on  the 
southern  part  of  this  continent  when  it  was  discovered 
in  1492.  Undoubtedly  it  was  very  old.  Its  original  be 
ginning  may  have  been  as  old  as  Egypt,  or  even  farther 
back  in  the  past  than  the  ages  to  which  Atlantis  must  be 
referred ;  and  it  may  have  been  later  than  the  beginning 
of  Egypt.  Who  can  certainly  tell  its  age  ?  Whether 
earlier  or  later,  it  was  original. 

Its  constructions  seem  to  have  been  a  refined  and  artis 
tic  development  of  a  style  of  building  different  from  that 
of  any  other  people,  which  began  with  ruder  forms,  but 
in  all  the  periods  of  its  history  preserved  the  same  gen 
eral  conception.  They  show  us  the  idea  of  the  Mound- 
Builders  wrought  out  in  stone  and  embellished  by  art. 
The  decorations,  and  the  writing  also,  are  wholly  original. 
There  is  no  imitation  of  the  work  of  any  people  ever 
known  in  Asia,  Africa,  or  Europe.  It  appears  evident 


Whence  came  that  Old  Civilization  ?          185 

that  the  method  of  building  seen  in  the  great  ruins  be 
gan  with  the  ruder  forms  of  mound-work,  and  became 
what  we  find  it  by  gradual  development,  as  the  advan 
cing  civilization  supplied  new  ideas  and  gave  higher 
skill.  But  the  culture  and  the  work  were  wholly  orig 
inal,  wholly  American. 

The  civilized  life  of  the  ancient  Mexicans  and  Central 
Americans  may  have  had  its  original  beginning  some 
where  in  South  America,  for  they  seem  more  closely  re 
lated  to  the  ancient  South  Americans  than  to  the  wild 
Indians  north  of  the  Mexican  border ;  but  the  peculiar 
development  of  it  represented  by  the  ruins  must  have 
begun  in  the  region  where  they  are  found.  I  find  my 
self  more  and  more  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  abo 
riginal  South  Americans  are  the  oldest  people  on  this 
continent ;  that  they  are  distinct  in  race ;  and  that  the 
wild  Indians  of  the  North  came  originally  from  Asia, 
where  the  race  to  which  they  belong  seems  still  repre 
sented  by  the  Koraks  and  Chookchees  found  in  that  part 
of  Asia  wrhich  extends  to  Behring's  Strait. 

If,  as  there  is  reason  to  believe,  the  countries  on  the 
Mediterranean  had  communication  with  America  in  very 
ancient  times,  they  found  here  a  civilization  already  de 
veloped,  and  contributed  nothing  to  change  its  style  of 
building  and  decorating  cities.  They  may  have  influ 
enced  it  in  other  respects ;  for,  if  such  communication 
was  opened  across  the  Atlantic,  it  was  probably  contin 
ued  for  a  long  time,  and  its  interruption  may  or  may  not 
be  due,  as  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  supposes,  to  the  cata 
clysm  which  ingulfed  Atlantis.  Religious  symbols  are 


186  Ancient  America. 

found  in  the  American  ruins  which  remind  us  of  those 
of  the  Phoenicians,  such  as  figures  of  the  serpent,  which 
appear  constantly,  and  the  cross,  supposed  by  some  to 
represent  the  mounting  of  the  magnetic  needle,  which 
was  among  the  emblems  peculiar  to  the  goddess  Astarte. 
A  figure  appears  occasionally  in  the  sculptures,  in  which 
some  have  sought  to  recognize  Astarte,  one  at  Palenque 
being  described  as  follows  :  "  It  is  a  female  figure  mould 
ed  in  stucco,  holding  a  child  on  her  left  arm  and  hand, 
just  as  Astarte  appears  on  the  Sidonian  medals."  I  find 
it  impossible  to  see  that  this  figure  has  any  resemblance 
whatever  to  the  Phoenician  goddess.  They  are  not  alike 
either  in  dress,  posture,  or  expression.  Dupaix  describes 
it  correctly  in  saying  it  represents  a  person  apparently 
"  absorbed  in  devotion"  —  a  worshiper,  and  not  a  god 
dess.  Moreover,  Astarte  usually  appears  on  the  medals 
standing  on  the  forward  deck  of  a  vessel,  holding  a  cross 
with  one  hand,  and  pointing  forward  with  the  other. 
And, finally,  this  figure  seems  to  represent,  not  a  woman, 
but  a  priest.  There  was  sun-worship  in  America,  and 
the  phallic  ceremonies  existed  in  some  places  in  the  time 
of  Cortez.  In  Asia  these  ceremonies  and  figures  of  the 
serpent  were  usually  associated  with  sun-worship.  Hum- 
boldt  was  sure  that  these  symbols  came  to  America  from 
the  Old  World.  A  more  careful  study  of  the  subject 
might  have  led  him  to  modify  this  belief.  But,  whether 
wTe  adopt  his  explanation  or  some  other,  the  traditions  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  are  without  meaning  unless  it 
be  admitted  that  there  was  communication  between  the 
two  continents  in  times  of  which  we  have  no  history. 


American  Ancient  History.  187 


VIII. 

AMERICAN  ANCIENT  HISTORY. 

IF  a  consecutive  history  of  the  ancient  people  of  Cen 
tral  America  and  Mexico  were  ever  written,  it  has  been 
lost.  Probably  nothing  of  the  kind  ever  was  written  in 
the  manner  which  we  call  history,  although  there  must 
have  been  regular  annals  of  some  kind.  The  ruins  show 
that  they  had  the  art  of  writing,  and  that,  at  the  south, 
this  art  was  more  developed,  more  like  a  phonetic  sys 
tem  of  writing  than  that  found  in  use  among  the  Aztecs. 
The  inscriptions  of  Palenque,  and  the  characters  used  in 
some  of  the  manuscript  books  that  have  been  preserved, 
are  not  the  same  as  the  "  Mexican  Picture  Writing."  It 
is  known  that  books  or  manuscript  writings  were  abun 
dant  among  them  in  the  ages  previous  to  the  Aztec  pe 
riod.  They  had  an  accurate  measure  of  the  solar  year 
and  a  system  of  chronology,  and  many  of  their  writings 
were  historical.  Among  the  Mayas,  and  in  other  com 
munities  of  the  same  family,  writing  was  largely  used  in 
the  time  of  the  Spaniards.  It  was  common  also  among 
the  Aztecs,  but  they  used  "  picture  writing."  Las  Casas 
wrote  on  this  point  as  follows : 

"  It  should  be  known  that  in  all  the  commonwealths 
of  these  countries,  in  the  kingdoms  of  New  Spain  and 
elsewhere,  among  other  professions  duly  filled  by  suita- 


188  Ancient  America. 

ble  persons  was  that  of  chronicler  and  historian.  These 
chroniclers  had  knowledge  of  the  origin  of  the  king 
doms,  and  of  whatever  related  to  religion  and  the  gods, 
as  well  as  to  the  founders  of  towns  and  cities.  They  re 
corded  the  history  of  kings,  and  of  the  modes  of  their 
election  and  succession ;  of  their  labors,  actions,  wars, 
and  memorable  deeds,  good  and  bad ;  of  the  virtuous 
men  or  heroes  of  former  days,  their  great  deeds,  the  wars 
they  had  waged,  and  how  they  had  distinguished  them 
selves  ;  who  had  been  the  earliest  settlers,  what  had  been 
their  ancient  customs,  their  triumphs,  and  defeats.  They 
knew,  in  fact,  whatever  pertained  to  history,  and  were 
able  to  give  an  account  of  all  past  events.  *  *  *  These 
chroniclers  had  likewise  to  calculate  the  days,  months, 
and  years ;  and  though  they  had  no  writing  like  ours, 
they  had  their  symbols  and  characters  through  which 
they  understood  every  thing ;  and  they  had  great  books, 
which  were  composed  with  such  ingenuity  and  art  that 
our  characters  were  really  of  no  great  assistance  to  them. 
Our  priests  have  seen  those  books,  and  I. myself  have 
seen  them  likewise,  though  many  were  burned  at  the  in 
stigation  of  the  monks,  who  were  afraid  they  might  im 
pede  the  work  of  conversion." 

Books  such  as  those  here  described  by  Las  Casas  must 
have  contained  important  historical  information.  The 
older  books,  belonging  to  the  ages  of  Copan  and  Pa- 
lenque,  went  to  decay  doubtless  long  previous  to  his 
time,  in  the  wars  and  revolutions  of  the  Toltec  period, 
or  by  the  wear  of  time.  The  later  books,  not  otherwise 
lost,  were  destroyed  by  Aztec  and  Spanish  vandalism. 


American  Ancient  History.  189 

According  to  tradition,  and  the  testimony  of  writings 
still  in  existence  when  the  Spaniards  went  there,  the 
Aztec  or  Mexican  sovereign  Ytzcoatl  destroyed  many  of 
the  old  Toltec  books.  His  aim  was  probably  to  exter 
minate  among  the  people  all  memory  of  the  previous 
times.  Such  things  have  been  done  with  similar  mo 
tives,  as  we  know,  in  other  countries,  by  successful  usurp 
ers  and  conquerors.  We  learn  from  Spanish  writers  that 
a  still  greater  destruction  of  the  old  books  was  effected 
by  the  more  ignorant  and  fanatical  of  the  Spanish  priests 
who  were  established  in  the  country  as  missionaries  aft 
er  the  Conquest.  This  is  stated  by  Las  Casas,  himself 
one  of  the  missionaries.  Besides  the  many  smaller  bon 
fires  of  this  fanaticism,  there  is  record  of  a  great  con 
flagration,  under  the  auspices  of  Bishop  Zumarraga,  in 
which  a  vast  collection  of  these  old  writings  was  con 
sumed.  As  the  writing  was  all  on  paper  (which  had 
long  been  used  in  the  country),  the  burning  was  easily 
accomplished. 

THE  OLD  BOOKS  NOT  ALL  LOST. 

The  Franciscan  and  Dominican  fanatics,  whose  learn 
ing  and  religion  consisted  of  ignorance  and  bigotry, 
hoped  to  exterminate  among  the  people  all  recollection 
of  their  former  history,  ideas,  and  religious  customs.  A 
few  of  the  books,  however,  escaped ;  none,  indeed,  that 
were  very  old,  for  it  does  not  appear  that  any  of  the 
manuscripts  rescued  from  destruction  were  written  or 
copied  earlier  than  the  age  which  closed  the  Aztec  dom 
ination.  None  of  the  great  books  of  annals  described 


190 


Ancient  America. 


by  Las  Casas  are  among  them,  but  they  relate  to  the  an 
cient  times,  and  most  of  them  are  copies  or  reproduc 
tions  of  much  older  books. 

Among  these  destroying  Spanish  ecclesiastics,  there 
was  here  and  there  one  who  quietly  secured  some  of  the 
manuscripts,  or  copies  of  them.  These  were  kept  from 
the  flames.  Others  were  secreted  by  the  people;  and 
subsequently^in  years  after  the  conquest  was  completed, 


Fig.  49.— Inscriptions  carved  on  Stone. 


American  Ancient  History. 


191 


some  of  the  more  intelligent  churchmen  wrote  histories 
of  the  country,  or  portions  of  it,  which  were  preserved 
in  manuscript.  Sahagun  wrote  such  a  history,  which 
shows  that  he  had  studied  the  traditions  and  some  of  the 
old  books  ;  this  work  is  printed  in  the  great  collection 
of  Lord  Kingsborough.  Diego  de  Landa,  first  bishop  of 
Yucatan,  wrote  a  history  of  the  Mayas  and  their  coun 
try,  which  was  preserved  in  manuscript  at  Madrid  in  the 
library  of  the  Koyal  Academy  of  History.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  important  works  on  the  country  written  by  a 
Spaniard,  because  it  contains  a  description  and  explana 
tion  of  the  phonetic  alphabet  of  the  Mayas.  Landa's 
manuscript  seems  to  have  lain  neglected  in  the  library, 
for  little  or  nothing  was  heard  of  it  until  it  was  discov 
ered  and  studied  by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  who,  by 
means  of  it,  has  deciphered 
some  of  the  old  American 
writings.  He  says  "  the  al 


phabet  and  signs  explained 
by  Landa  have  been  to  me 
a  Rosetta  stone."  Figure  49 
represents  a  specimen  of  the 
inscriptions  as  carved  upon 


HI! 


stone.     Figure  50  gives  them 


Fig.  50.— Manuscript  Writing. 


as  they  appear  in  manuscript. 

An  extensive  and  important  manuscript  work,  written 
two  hundred  years  ago  by  Francisco  Ximenes,  an  eccle 
siastic,  is  preserved  in  Guatemala.  He,  being  drawn  to 
inquiries  concerning  the  antiquities  and  ancient  history 
of  the  country,  was  able  to  get  possession  of  several  of 


192  Ancient  America. 

the  old  books,  one  of  them  being  that  known  as  "  Popol- 
Vuh."  His  manuscript,  arranged  in  four  great  volumes 
(one  of  which,  it  is  said,  has  disappeared),  contains  valu 
able  information  in  regard  to  the  ancient  history  and 
traditions  of  Guatemala.  One  of  the  volumes  has  a 
copy  of  the  "  Popol  -Yuh"  in  the  native  tongue,  and  an 
other  has  a  Spanish  translation  of  the  work.  He  left 
also  a  manuscript  Dictionary  of  the  principal  Guatema 
lan  dialects  (which  belong  to  the  Maya  family),  entitled 
"  Tesoro  de  las  Lenguas  Quiche,  Cakchiquel,  y  Tzutohil." 
Probably  other  manuscripts  of  the  same  character  exist 
at  Madrid  and  in  Central  America  which  are  not  yet 
known  to  those  who  can  understand  their  importance. 

As  already  stated,  none  of  the  great  books  of  annals 
have  been  discovered,  but  some  of  the  old  American 
manuscripts  now  preserved  in  several  of  the  libraries 
and  private  collections  of  Europe  are  important.  Three 
are  specified  as  particularly  valuable  to  students  of 
American  antiquity :  that  called  the  "  Codex  Chimalpo- 
poca,"  an  old  Toltec  book,  written  in  the  Toltec  lan 
guage  ;  one  now  entitled  the  "  Codex  Cakchiquel ;"  and 
the  "Popol -Yuh."  The  latter,  written  in  the  Quiche 
dialect,  was  translated  into  Spanish  two  hundred  years 
ago  by  Ximenes,  but  his  translation  remained  in  Guate 
mala  unprinted  and  quite  unknown  until  it  was  discov 
ered  in  our  time.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  who  is  mas 
ter  of  the  Quiche  language,  and  to  whom  we  are  indebt 
ed  for  most  that  is  known  of  the  manuscripts  of  Xi 
menes,  thought  this  Spanish  translation  very  imperfect ; 
therefore  he  has  translated  the  work  into  French. 


American  Ancient  History.  193 

The  "Popol-Vuh"  was  written  in  1558  as  an  abridged 
reproduction  of  a  very  ancient  Quiche  book  which  con 
tained  an  account  of  the  history,  traditions,  religion,  and 
cosmogony  of  the  Quiches.  The  first  part  of  it  is  de 
voted  to  the  cosmogony  and  traditional  lore  ;  the  rest 
gives  an  account  of  the  Quiches,  who,  at  the  time  of  the 
Conquest,  were  the  dominant  people  in  the  Central  Amer 
ican  regions  south  of  the  great  forest.  If  the  history 
were  consecutive  and  clear,  it  would  not  take  us  back 
into  the  past  more  than  three  or  four  centuries  beyond 
1558,  for  the  Quiche  domination  was  probably  not  much 
older  than  that  of  the  Aztecs.  But  the  history  is  not 
clear.  Putting  aside  the  mythical  and  legendary  por 
tion  of  it  which  relates  to  origins  and  migrations,  we 
can  see  that  it  extends  over  some  fourteen  generations, 
which  may  indicate  that  Quiche  became  an  independent 
and  ruling  power  about  1200  A.D. 

For  those  who  study  the  book  it  is  full  of  interest.  It 
shows  us  their  conceptions  of  the  Supreme  Being  and 
his  relation  to  the  world ;  it  enables  us  to  see  what  they 
admired  in  character  as  virtue,  heroism,  nobleness,  and 
beauty ;  it  discloses  their  mythology  and  their  notions  of 
religious  worship ;  in  a  word,  it  bears  witness  to  the  fact 
that  the  various  families  of  mankind  are  all  of  "one 
blood,"  so  far,  at  least,  as  to  be  precisely  alike  in  nature. 

The  cosmogony  and  mythical  lore  of  the  Quiches  seem 
to  have  their  root  in  the  beliefs  and  facts  of  a  time  far 
more  ancient  than  the  national  beginning  of  this  people. 
In  assuming  the  form  in  which  we  find  them,  they  must 
have  passed  through  several  phases  of  growth,  which 

I 


194  Ancient  America. 

changed  their  appearance  and  obscured  their  meaning. 
Manifestly  the  history  of  the  country  did  not  begin  with 
the  Quiches.  The  account  of  the  creation,  with  every 
thing  else  in  this  cosmogony  and  mythology,  is  original, 
like  the  civilization  to  which  they  belong. 

According  to  the  "  Popol-Vuh,"  the  world  had  a  be- 
ginning.  There  was  a  time  when  it  did  not  exist.  Only 
"  Heaven"  existed,  below  which  all  space  was  an  empty, 
silent,  unchanging  solitude.  Nothing  existed  there,  nei 
ther  man,  nor  animal,  nor  earth,  nor  tree.  Then  ap 
peared  a  vast  expanse  of  water  on  which  divine  beings 
moved  in  brightness,  "  They  said  '  earth !'  and  instantly 
the  earth  was  created.  It  came  into  being  like  a  vapor ; 
mountains  rose  above  the  waters  like  lobsters  and  were 
made.  Thus  was  the  earth  created  by  the  Heart  of 
Heaven."  Next  came  the  creation  of  animals ;  but  the 
gods  were  disappointed  because  the  animals  could  nei 
ther  tell  their  names  nor  worship  the  Heart  of  Heaven. 

Therefore  it  was  resolved  that  man  should  be  created. 
First,  man  was  made  of  earth,  but  his  flesh  had  no  cohe 
sion  ;  he  was  inert,  could  not  turn  his  head,  and  had  no 
mind,  although  he  could  speak ;  therefore  he  was  con 
sumed  in  the  water.  Next,  men  were  made  of  wood, 
and  these  multiplied,  but  they  had  neither  heart  nor  in 
tellect,  and  could  not  worship,  and  so  they  withered  up 
and  disappeared  in  the  waters.  A  third  attempt  fol 
lowed:  .man  was  made  of  a  tree  called  tzite,  and  woman 
of  the  pith  of  a  reed ;  but  these  failed  to  think,  speak, 
or  worship,  and  were  destroyed,  all  save  a  remnant  which 
still  exists  as  a  race  of  small  monkeys  found  in  forests. 


American  Ancient  History.  195 

A  fourth  attempt  to  create  the  human  race  was  suc 
cessful,  but  the  circumstances  attending  this  creation  are 
veiled  in  mystery.  It  took  place  before  the  beginning  of 
dawn,  when  neither  sun  nor  moon  had  risen,  and  was  a 
wonder-work  of  the  Heart  of  Heaven.  Four  men  were 
created,  and  they  could  reason,  speak,  and  see  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  know  all  things  at  once.  They  worshiped 
the  Creator  with  thanks  for  existence,  but  the  gods,  dis 
mayed  and  scared,  breathed  clouds  on  their  eyes  to  limit 
their  vision,  and  cause  them  to  be  men  and  not  gods. 
Afterward,  while  the  four  men  were  asleep,  the  gods 
made  for  them  beautiful  wives,  and  from  these  came  all 
the  tribes  and  families  of  the  earth. 

No  account  of  the  rescued  fragments  of  this  old  liter 
ature  of  Ancient  America  should  omit  giving  due  credit 
to  Chevalier  Boturini,  the  Milanese,  who  wrent  from  Italy 
to  America  in  1735  as  an  agent  of  the  Countess  Santi- 
baney,  who  claimed  to  be  a  descendant  of  Montezuma. 
He,  too,  was  a  devotee,  and  believed  that  St.  Thomas 
preached  the  Gospel  in  America ;  but  he  had  antiquarian 
tastes,  and  was  sufficiently  intelligent  to  understand  the 
importance  of  the  old  manuscripts  which  had  furnished 
so  much  fuel  for  the  bonfires  of  fanaticism.  During  the 
eight  years  of  his  residence  in  Mexico  and  Central  Amer 
ica  he  hunted  diligently  for  those  still  in  existence,  and 
made  a  considerable  collection,  including  in  it  some  of 
the  Mexican  "picture  writings."  But  when  about  to 
leave,  he  was  despoiled  of  his  treasure  and  flung  into 
prison  by  the  Spanish  viceroy.  He  finally  left  the  coun 
try  with  a  portion  of  them,  but  was  captured  by  an  En- 


196  Ancient  America. 

glish  cruiser  and  again  despoiled.  The  manuscripts  left 
in  Mexico  were  finally  sold  at  auction  while  Humboldt 
was  there ;  he  secured  a  portion  of  them.  Another  por 
tion  was  brought  to  France  about  1830  by  M.  Aubin. 
who  made  important  additions  to  it.  M.  Aubin  himself 
spent  years  searching  for  remains  of  the  old  writings, 
and  he  has  now,  it  is  supposed,  the  most  valuable  collec 
tion  in  Europe. 

It  is  likely  that  most  of  the  recovered  books  may  be 
translated  by  those  who  can  bring  to  the  work  habits  of 
patient  study  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  native 
dialects.  Dictionaries  of  these  dialects,  as  they  were 
spoken  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  were  prepared  by 
some  of  the  Spanish  priests,  and  other  facilities  are  not 
wanting.  It  is  surprising,  however,  that  no  one  has 
translated  the  "  Codex  Chimalpopoca"  (which  seems  the 
most  important)  if  the  language  in  which  it  is  written  is 
in  fact  sufficiently  modern  to  be  managed  as  easily  as 
that  of  "Popol  Vuh."  It  must  be  translatable,  for  its 
general  tenor  is  known,  and  passages  of  it  are  quoted. 
Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  states  that  he  has  undertaken  a 
translation.  But  who  will  translate  the  inscriptions  at 
Copan  and  Palenqne  ?  Is  the  language  in  which  they 
were  written  an  old  form  of  speech,  from  which  the  dia 
lects  of  the  Maya  family,  or  a  portion  of  them,  were  de 
rived?  They  have  not  been  translated.  No  one  has 
found  a  clew  to  their  meaning.  The  characters  are  un 
derstood,  but  they  appear  to  show  an  older  form  of  the 
language,  which  at  present  can  not  be  deciphered.  Bras 
seur  de  Bourbourg's  "  Kosetta  Stone,"  discovered  in  Lan- 


American  Ancient  History.  197 

da's  manuscript,  will  not  serve  him  here.  Another  more 
potent  must  be  found  before  these  old  inscriptions  can 
be  made  to  give  up  their  secrets.* 

THE   ANCIENT   HISTORY    SKETCHED. 

It  is  impossible  to  know  what  was  contained  in  the 
books  of  annals  written  by  the  official  chroniclers  of 
these  ancient  American  countries,  for  these  books  are 
lost.  They  existed  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest ;  some  of 
them  were  seen  and  described  by  Las  Casas ;  but,  so  far 
as  is  known,  not  one  of  these  books  of  regular  annals, 
such  as  he  described,  has  escaped  destruction  ;  therefore 
it  is  impossible  to  know  any  thing  certainly  of  their  char 
acter  as  histories. 

The  books  preserved  furnish  little  more  than  vague 
outlines  of  the  past,  with  obscure  views  of  distinct  peri 
ods  in  the  history,  created  by  successive  dominations  of 
different  peoples  or  different  branches  of  the  same  peo 
ple.  What  they  enable  us  to  know  of  the  old  history 
resembles  what  is  known  of  the  early  times  of  the  Greeks, 
who  had  no  ancient  histories  excepting  such  as  were  fur 
nished  by  their  "  poets  of  the  cycle."  In  one  case  we 
are  told  of  Pelasgians,  Leleges,  Cadmeans,  Argives,  and 
Eolians  very  much  as  in  the  other  we  are  told  of  Colhu- 
as,  Chichimecs,  Quiriames,  and  Nahuas. 

But  the  outline  is  not  wholly  dark ;  it  does  not  ex 
clude  the  possibility  of  a  reasonable  attempt  at  hypothe 
sis.  When  Cortez  entered  Mexico,  the  Aztecs,  Montezu- 
ma's  people,  had  been  in  power  more  than  two  centuries. 

*  See  Appendix  D» 


198  Ancient  America. 

Most  of  the  ancient  history,  of  which  something  is  said 
in  these  books,  relates  to  ages  previous  to  their  time,  and 
chiefly  to  their  predecessors,  the  Toltecs.  According  to 
these  writings,  the  country  where  the  ruins  are  found 
was  occupied  in  successive  periods  by  three  distinct  peo 
ples,  the  Chichimecs,  the  Colhuas,  and  the  Toltecs  or 
Nahuas.  The  Toltecs  are  said  to  have  come  into  the 
country  about  a  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era. 
Their  supremacy  appears  to  have  ceased,  and  left  the 
country  broken  up  into  small  states,  two  or  three  centu 
ries  before  the  Aztecs  appeared.  They  were  preceded 
by  the  Colhuas,  by  whom  this  old  civilization  was  origi 
nated  and  developed.  The  most  ancient  people,  those 
found  in  the  country  by  the  Colhuas,  are  called  Chichi 
mecs.  They  are  described  as  a  barbarous  people  who 
lived  by  hunting  and  fishing,  and  had  neither  towns 
nor  agriculture.  This,  term  Chichimecs  appears  to  have 
been  a  generic  appellation  for  all  uncivilized  aborigines. 
Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  says,  "  Under  the  generic  name 
Chichimecs,  which  has  much  embarrassed  some  \vriters, 
the  Mexican  traditions  include  the  whole  aboriginal  pop 
ulation  of  the  New  World,  and  especially  the  people  by 
whom  it  wTas  first  occupied  at  the  beginning  of  time." 

Some  of  the  traditions  state  that  the  Colhuas  came 
from  the  east  in  ships.  Sahagun  mentions  that  a  tradi 
tion  to  this  effect  was  current  in  Yucatan.  The  precise 
value  of  these  traditional  reports  is  uncertain  ;  but,  if  ac 
cepted  as  vague  historical  recollections,  they  could  be 
explained  by  supposing  the  civilized  people  called  Col 
huas  came  from  South  America  through  the  Caribbean 


Ancient  American  History.  199 

Sea,  and  landed  in  Yucatan  and  Tabasco.  They  are  uni 
formly  described  as  the  people  who  first  established  civ 
ilization  and  built  great  cities.  They  taught  the  Chichi- 
mecs  to  cook  their  food,  cultivate  the  earth,  and  adopt 
the  ways  of  civilized  life ;  and  the  Chichimecs  civilized 
by  their  influence  are  sometimes  called  Quinames. 

The  Collmas  are  connected  with  vague  references  to 
a  long  and  important  period  in  the  history  previous  to 
the  Toltec  ages.  They  seem  to  have  been,  in  some  re 
spects,  more  advanced  in  civilization  than  the  Toltecs. 
What  is  said  of  events  in  their  history  relates  chiefly  to 
their  great  city  called  Xibalba,  the  capital  of  an  impor 
tant  kingdom  to  which  this  name  was  given.  The  Tol 
tecs,  in  alliance  with  the  uncivilized  Chichimecs  of  the 
mountains,  subjugated  this  city  and  kingdom,  and  thus 
brought  to  a  close  the  period  which  may  be  termed  Col- 
hnan.  This  kingdom  appears  to  have  included  Guate 
mala,  Yucatan,  Tabasco,  Tehuantepec,  Chiapa,  Honduras, 
and  other  districts  in  Central  America ;  and  it  may  have 
included  all  Southern  Mexico,  for  places  north  of  the 
Tampico  River  are  mentioned  as  being  within  its  limits 
when  the  Toltecs  came  into  the  country.  Some  of  the 
principal  seats  of  the  Colhuari  civilization  were  in  the 
region  now  covered  by  the  great  forest.  Some  investi 
gators  have  sought  to  identify  the  city  of  Xibalba  with 
the  ruined  city  known  to  us  as  Palenque.  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg  says:  "Palenque  appears  to  have  been  the 
same  city  to  which  the  books  give  the  name  of  Xibal 
ba  ;"  but  this  is  nothing  but  conjecture.  We  may  as 
reasonably  suppose  Copan,  Quirigua,  or  some,  other  old 
ruin,  to  have  been  Xibalba. 


200  Ancient  America. 

Those  who  attempt  to  believe  this  old  American  civil 
ization  was  brought  across  the  Atlantic  by  the  Phoeni 
cians  in  very  remote  times,  assume,  against  the  plain  tes 
timony  of  the  monuments,  that  the  Colhuas  came  to 
America  from  some  country  on  the  Mediterranean.  They 
may  have  come  from  some  other  part  of  this  continent. 
In  my  judgment,  it  is  not  improbable  that  they  came  by 
sea  from  South  America.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  would 
say  they  were  people  of  the  Atlantic  race,  who,  having 
escaped  destruction  by  the  cataclysm,  found  their  way 
to  Yucatan  and  Tabasco. .  But  there  is  little  beside  con 
jecture  to  support  any  theory  of  their  origin.  We  have 
only  the  fact  that,  according  to  the  old  books  and  tradi 
tions  of  the  country,  they  occupied  that  region  at  a  re 
mote  period,  and  originated  the  civilization  whose  mon 
uments  are  found  there.  Tradition  places  their  first  set 
tlements  on  the  Gulf  coast  in  Tabasco,  between  Tehuan- 
tepec  and  Yucatan.  It  is  inferred  that  the  Mayas,  Tzen- 
dals,  Quiches,  and  some  other  communities  of  the  old 
race,  were  descendants  of  the  Colhuas,  their  speech  be 
ing  more  highly  developed  than  that  of  any  native  com 
munity  not  connected  with  this  family,  and  their  writ 
ten  characters  having  a  close  resemblance  to  those  of  the 
oldest  inscriptions. 

THE    TOLTECS    OUR   MOUND-BUILDERS. 

As  the  remains  of  the  Mound-Builders  show  clearly 
that  they  had  commercial  intercourse  with  the  Mexican 
and  Central  American  countries,  and  as  it  seems  proba 
ble  that  they  had  otherwise  a  very  close  relation  to  the 


Ancient  American  History.  201 

people  of  those  countries,  it  would  be  surprising  to  find 
no  mention  of  their  country  in  the  old  books  and  tradi 
tions  of  the  Central  Americans  and  Mexicans.  If  we 
could  have  the  lost  books,  especially  those  of  the  more 
ancient  time,  and  learn  to  read  them,  it  might  be  possi 
ble  to  know  something  of  the  origin  and  history  of  the 
Mound-Builders.  It  is  believed  that  distinct  reference 
to  their  country  has  been  found  in  the  books  still  in  ex 
istence,  and  there  appears  to  be  reason  for  this  belief. 
Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  one  of  the  few  investigators  who 
have  explored  them,  says : 

"  Previous  to  the  history  of  the  Toltec  dojnination  in 
Mexico,  we  notice  in  the  annals  of  the  country  two  facts 
of  great  importance,  but  equally  obscure  in  their  details : 
first,  the  tradition  concerning  the  landing  of  a  foreign 
race,  conducted  by  an  illustrious  personage,  who  came 
from  an  eastern  country ;  and,  second,  the  existence  of 
an  ancient  empire  known  as  Huehue-Tlapalan,  from 
which  the  Toltecs  or  Nahnas  came  to  Mexico,  in  conse 
quence  of  a  revolution  or  invasion,  and  from  which  they 
had  a  long  and  toilsome  migration  to  the  Aztec  plateau." 

He  believes  that  Huehue-Tlapalan  was  the  country  of 
the  Mound-Builders  in  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Valleys. 
According  to  the  native  books  he  has  examined,  it  was 
somewhere  at  a  distance  in  the  northeast ;  and  it  is  con 
stantly  said  that  some  of  the  Toltecs  came  by  land  and 
some  by  sea.  Sahagun  learned  from  the  old  books  and 
traditions,  and  stated  in  the  introduction  to  the  first 
book  of  his  history,  that  the  Toltecs  came  from  that  dis 
tant  northeastern  country ;  and  he  mentions  a  company 

12 


202  Ancient  America. 

that  came  by  sea,  settled  near  the  Tampico  River,  and 
built  a  town  called  Panuco.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg 
finds  that  an  account  of  this  or  another  company  was  pre 
served  at  Xilanco,  an  ancient  city  situated  on  the  point 
of  an  island  between  Lake  Terminos  and  the^  sea,  and 
famous  for  its  commerce,  wealth,  and  intelligence.  The 
company  described  in  this  account  came  from  the  north 
east  in  the  same  way,  it  is  said,  to  the  Tampico  River, 
and  landed  at  Panuco.  It  consisted  of  twenty  chiefs 
and  a  numerous  company  of  people.  Torquemada  found 
a  record  which  describes  them  as  people  of  fine  appear 
ance.  They  went  forward  into  the  country  and  were 
well  received.  He  says  they  were  industrious,  orderly, 
and  intelligent,  and  that  they  worked  metals,  and  were 
skillful  artists  and  lapidaries.  All  the  accounts  say  the 
Toltecs  came  at  different  times,  by  land  and  sea,  mostly 
in  small  companies,  and  always  from  the  northeast. 
This  can  be  explained  only  by  supposing  they  came  by 
sea  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River  or  from  the 
Gulf  coast  near  it,  and  by  land  through  Texas.  But  the 
country  from  which  they  came  was  invariably  Huehue- 
Tlapalan. 

Cabrera  says  Huehue-Tlapalan  was  the  ancient  coun 
try  of  the  Toltecs.  Its  simple  name  was  Tlapalan,  but 
they  called  it  Huehne,  old,  to  distinguish  it  from  three 
other  Tlapalans  which  they  founded  in  the  districts  of 
their  new  kingdom.  Torquemada  says  the  same.  We 
are  not  authorized  to  reject  a  fact  so  distinctly  stated 
and  so  constantly  reported  in  the  old  books.  The  most 
we  can  do  against  it  with  any  show  of  reason  is  to  re- 


Ancient  American  History.  203 

ceive  it  with  doubt.  Therefore  it  seems  not  improbable 
that  the  "  Old  Tlapalan"  of  Central  American  tradition 
was  the  country  of  our  Mound-Builders. 

Another  circumstance  mentioned  is  not  without  sig 
nificance.  It  is  said,  in  connection  with  this  account  of 
the  Toltec  migration,  that  Huehue-Tlapalan  was  success 
fully  invaded  by  Chichimecs,  meaning  barbarous  aborig 
inal  tribes,  who  were  united  under  one  great  leader. 
Here  is  one  statement  (a  little  condensed)  touching  this 
point :  "  There  was  a  terrible  struggle,  but,  after  about 
thirteen  years,  the  Toltecs,  no  longer  able  to  resist  suc 
cessfully,  wrere  obliged  to  abandon  their  country  to  es 
cape  complete  subjugation.  Two  chiefs  guided  the 
march  of  the  emigrating  nation.  At  length  they  reached 
a  region  near  the  sea  named  '  Tlapalan-Conco,'  where 
they  remained  several  years.  But  they  finally  undertook 
another  migration  and  reached  Mexico,  where  they  builf 
a  town  called  '  Tollanzinco,1  and  later  the  city  of  Tullan, 
which  became  the  seat  of  their  government." 

This  is  substantially  what  is  told  of  the  defeat  and  mi 
grations  of  the  Toltecs.  The  history  of  Ixtlilxochitl  adds 
doubtful  modifications  and  particulars  not  found  in  the 
"  Codex  Chimalpopoca."  (See  Qnatre  Lettres,  etc.)  This 
Chichimec  invasion  of  Huehue-Tlapalan  is  placed  at  a 
period  which,  in  the  chronology  of  the  native  books,  was 
long  previous  to  the  Christian  era,  and  is  mentioned  to 
explain  the  beginning  of  the  Toltec  movement  toward 
Mexico ;  but  the  account  of  it  is  obscure. 

To  find  a  system  of  chronology  in  these  old  books  is 
not  surprising  when  we  consider  that  even  the  Aztecs  of 


204  Ancient  America. 

Montezuma's  time  knew  enough  of  astronomy  to  have  a 
correct  measure  of  the  year.  The  Aztecs  adopted  the 
methods  of  astronomy  and  chronology  which  were  used 
by  their  predecessors.  They  divided  the  year  into  eigh 
teen  months  of  twenty  days  eacli ;  but,  as  this  gave  the 
year  only  three  hundred  and  sixty  days,  five  supplement 
ary  days  were  added  to  each  year,  and  a  sixth  day  to 
every  fourth  year.  The  bissextile  is  known  to  have  been 
used  by  the  Mayas,  Tzendals,  and  Quiches,  and  it  was 
probably  common. 

We  can  not  reasonably  refuse  to  give  some  attention 
to  their  chronology,  even  while  doubting  its  value  as  a 
means  of  fixing  dates  and  measuring  historical  periods. 
Its  method  was  to  count  by  equal  periods  of  years,  as 
we  count  by  centuries,  and  their  chronology  presents  a 
series  of  periods  which  carries  back  their  history  to  a 
very  remote  time  in  the  past.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg 
says :  "  In  the  histories  written  in  the  Nahuatl  language, 
the  oldest  certain  date  is  nine  hundred  and  fifty -five 
years  before  Christ."  This,  he  means,  is  the  oldest  date 
in  the  history  of  the  Nahuas  or  Toltecs  which  has  been 
accurately  determined.  The  calculation  by  which  it  is 
found  is  quoted  from  the  later  portion  of  the  "  Codex 
Chimalpopoca"  as  follows :  "  Six  times  400  years  plus 
113  years"  previous  to  the  year  1558  A.D.  This  is  given 
as  the  date  of  a  division  of  the  land  by  the  Nahuas.  The 
division  was  made  2513  years  previous  to  1558  A.D.,  or 
in  955  B.C.  If  this  date  could  be  accepted  as  authentic, 
it  would  follow  that  the  Nahuas  or  Toltecs  left  Huehue- 
Tlapalan  more  than  a  thousand  years  previous  tq  the 


Ancient  American  History.  205 

Christian  era,  for  they  dwelt  a  long  time  in  the  country 
of  Xibalba  as  peaceable  settlers  before  they  organized 
the  civil  war  which  raised  them  to  power. 

SOME    CONFIRMATION    OF    THIS    HISTOKY. 

That  the  ancient  history  of  the  country  was  some 
thing  like  what  is  reported  in  the  old  writings  seems 
not  improbable  when  we  consider  the  condition  in  which 
the  native  population  was  found  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago.  This  shows  that  Mexico  and  Central  Amer 
ica  had  been  subjected  to  disrupting  political  changes 
caused  by  violent  transfers  of  supreme  influence  from 
one  people  to  another  several  times  in  the  course  of  a 
long  history.  Such  a  history  is  indicated  by  the  monu 
ments,  and  its  traces  were  noticeable  in  peculiarities  of 
the  native  inhabitants  of  the  various  districts  at  the  time 
of  the  Spanish  Conquest.  They  are  still  manifest  to 
travelers  who  study  the  existing  representatives  of  the 
old  race  and  the  old  dialects  sufficiently  to  find  them. 
There  were  several  distinct  families  or  groups  of  lan 
guage,  and,  in  many  cases,  the  people  represented  by 
each  family  of  dialects  were  in  a  state  of  separation  or 
disruption.  To  a  considerable  extent  they  existed  in 
fragmentary  communities,  sometimes  widely  separated. 

The  most  important  group  of  related  dialects  was  that 
which  included  the  speech  of  the  Mayas,  Quiches,  and 
Tzendals,  which,  it  is  supposed,  represented  the  language 
of  the  original  civilizers,  the  Colhuas.  Dialects  of  this 
family  are  found  on  both  sides  of  the  great  forest.  There 
were  other  (Jiajects  supposed  to  indicate  Toltec  commu- 


206  Ancient  America. 

nities ;  and  there  were  communities  south  of  Mexico,  In 
Nicaragua,  and  even  farther  south,  which  used  the  Aztec 
speech.  Very  likely  all  these  differing  groups  of  lan 
guage  came  originally  from  the  same  source,  and  really 
represent  a  single  race,  but  comparative  philology  has 
not  yet  reported  on  them.  Mention  is  made  of  another 
people,  called  Waiknas  or  Caribs,  and  conjecture  sees  in 
them  remains  of  the  aboriginal  barbarians  termed  Chich- 
imecs.  They  dwelt  chiefly  in  the  "  dense,  dank  forests" 
found  growing  on  the  low  alluvion  of  the  Atlantic  coast. 
So  far  as  is  known,  their  speech  had  no  affinity  with 
that  of  any  other  native  community.  People  of  this 
race  constitute  a  chief  element  in  the  mixed  population 
of  the  "  Mosquito  Coast,"  known  as  Moscos. 

In  Yucatan  the  old  inhabitants  were  Mayas,  and  peo 
ple  using  dialects  related  to  theirs  were  numerous  in  Ta 
basco,  Chiapa,  Guatemala,  and  the  neighboring  districts, 
while  all  around  the  country  were  scattered  communi 
ties  supposed  to  be  of  Toltec  origin,  as  their  speech 
could  not  be  classed  with  these  dialects  nor  with  that  of 
the  Aztecs.  The  most  reasonable  explanation  of  this 
condition  of  the  people  is  that  furnished  by  the  old 
chronicles  and  traditions.  The  country  must  have  been 
occupied,  during  successive  periods,  by  different  peoples, 
who  are  represented  by  these  broken  communities  and 
unlike  groups  of  language.  When  all  the  native  writ 
ings  still  in  existence  shall  have  been  translated,  and  es 
pecially  when  the  multitude  of  inscriptions  found  in  the 
ruins  shall  have  been  deciphered,  we  may  be  able  to  see 
in  a  clearer  light  the.  ruins,  the  people,  and  their  history. 


The  Aztec  Civilization.  207 


IX. 

THE  AZTEC  CIVILIZATION. 

IF  a  clever  gleaner  of  the  curious  and  notable  things 
in  literature  should  write  on  the  curiosities  of  historical 
speculation,  he  would  be  sure  to  take  some  account  of 
"  A  New  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico"  published 
in  Philadelphia  in  1859.  The  special  aim  of  this  work 
is  to  deny  utterly  the  civilization  of  the  Aztecs.  The 
author  has  ability,  earnestness,  and  knowledge  of  what 
has  been  written  on  the  subject;  he  writes  with  vigor, 
and  with  a  charming  extravagance  of  dogmatic  assump 
tion,  which  must  be  liked  for  its  heartiness,  while  it  fails 
to  convince  those  who  study  it.  This  writer  fully  ad 
mits  the  significance  of  the  old  ruins,  and  maintains  that 
a  great  civilization  formerly  existed  in  that  part  of  the 
continent.  This  he  ascribes  to  the  Phoenicians,  while 
he  gives  it  an  extreme  antiquity,  and  thinks  the  present 
ruins  have  existed  as  ruins  "  for  thousands  of  years," 
explaining  these  words  to  mean  that  their  history  "  is 
separated  by  a  cycle  of  thousands  of  years  from  the  civ 
ilization  of  our  day."  In  his  view,  the  people  who  con 
structed  the  old  cities  were  subjugated  and  destroyed, 
long  ages  since, "  by  inroads  of  northern  savages,"  who 
were  the  only  people  in  the  country  when  the  Spaniards 
arrived. 


208  Ancient  America. 

The  chief  business  of  this  "New  History"  is  to  set 
forth  these  views.  Under  the  treatment  of  its  author, 
Montezuma  becomes  a  rude  Indian  sachem,  his  kingdom 
a  confederation  of  barbarous  Indian  tribes  like  that  of 
the  Iroquois,  the  city  of  Mexico  a  cluster  of  mud  huts  ot 
wigwams  in  an  everglade,  its  causeways  rude  Indian 
footpaths,  its  temples  and  palaces  pure  fictions  of  lying 
Spanish  romance,  and  all  previous  histories  of  the  Az 
tecs  and  their  country  extravagant  inventions  with  a 
"  Moorish  coloring."  He  wrould  have  us  believe  that 
what  he  calls  "  the  pretended  civilization  of  Montezuma 
and  his  Aztecs"  was  a  monstrous  fable  of  the  Spaniards, 
a  "  pure  fabrication,"  encouraged  by  the  civil  authority 
in  Spain,  and  supported  by  the  censorship  of  the  Inqui 
sition.  Therefore  he  undertakes  to  destroy  "  the  fabric 
of  lies,"  unveil  those  "  Mexican  savages"  the  Aztecs,  and 
tell  a  "  new"  story  of  their  actual  character  and  condi 
tion. 

Of  course,  views  so  preposterous  do  not  find  much  fa 
vor.  If  the  Mexicans  had  been  nothing  more  than  this, 
the  experience  of  Cortez  among  them  would  have  been 
like  that  of  De  Soto  in  his  long  and  disastrous  march 
through  Florida,  the  Gulf  regions,  and  the  country  on 
the  lower  Mississippi.  Cortez  and  his  men  had  a  differ 
ent  fortune,  because  their  march  was  among  people  who 
had  towns,  cities,  settled  communities,  and  the  applian 
ces  and  accumulations  of  civilized  life.  Doubtless  some 
of  the  Spaniards  exaggerated  and  romanced  for  effect 
in  Spain,  but  they  did  not  invent  either  the  city  of  Mex 
ico  or  the  kingdom  of  Montezuma.  We  can  see  clearly 


The  Aztec  Civilization.  209 

that  the  Mexicans  were  a  civilized  people,  that  Montezu- 
ma's  city  of  Mexico  was  larger  than  the  present  city, 
and  that  an  important  empire  was  substantially  conquer 
ed  when  that  city  was  finally  subjugated  and  destroyed. 
That  the  ancient  city  of  Mexico  was  a  great  city,  well 
built  partly  of  timber  and  partly  of  cut  stone  laid  in 
a  mortar  of  lime,  appears  in  all  that  is  said  of  the  siege, 
and  of  the  dealings  of  Cortez  with  its  people  and  their 
rulers.  Montezuma,  wishing  to  remove  false  notions  of 
the  Spaniards  concerning  his  wealth,  said  to  Cortez  dur 
ing  their  first  interview, "  The  Tlascalans,  T  know,  have 
told  you  that  I  am  like  a  god,  and  that  all  about  me  is 
gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones ;  but  you  now  see  that  I 
am  mere  flesh  and  blood,  and  that  my  houses  are  'built 
of  lime,  stone,  and  timber"  Lime,  stone,  and  timber! 
This  was  the  poorest  view  of  the  old  city  of  Mexico  that 
could  be  given  to  those  who  saw  it.  It  is  not  easy  to 
understand  how  a  denial  of  the  Aztec  civilization  was 
possible. 

THE   DISCOVERY    AND   INVASION. 

The  first  inhabitants  of  that  part  of  the  continent 
seen  by  Spaniards  were  Mayas  from  Yucatan.  Colum 
bus  met  them  in  1502  at  an  island  near  Ruatan,  off  the 
coast  of  Honduras.  While  he  was  stopping  at  this  isl 
and,  these  Mayas  came  there  "  in  a  vessel  of  considerable 
size"  from  a  port  in  Yucatan,  thirty  leagues  distant.  It 
was  a  trading  vessel,  freighted  with  a  variety  of  mer 
chandise,  and  it  used  sails.  Its  cargo  consisted  of  a  va 
riety  of  textile  fabrics  of  divers  colors,  wearing  apparel, 


210  Ancient  America. 

arms,  household  furniture,  and  cacao,  and  the  crew  num 
bered  twenty  men.  Columbus,  who  treated  them  very 
kindly,  described  these  strangers  as  well  clothed,  intelli 
gent,  and  altogether  superior  to  any  other  people  he  had 
discovered  in  America.  Adventurers  hunting  for  prey 
soon  began  to  make  voyages  in  that  direction  and  report 
what  they  saw.  Sailing  along  the  coast  of  Yucatan, 
they  discovered  cities,  and  "  the  grandeur  of  the  build 
ings  filled  them  with  astonishment."  On  the  main  land 
and  on  one  or  two  islands  they  saw  great  edifices  built 
of  stone.  The  seeming  riches  and  other  attractions  of 
the  country  led  the  Spaniards  to  invade  Yucatan,  but 
they  were  defeated  and  driven  off.  At  this  time  they 
gained  considerable  knowledge  of  Mexico,  and  persuad 
ed  themselves  that  immense  wealth  could  be  found 
there. 

Finally,  in  March,  1519,  Cortez  landed  near  the  place 
where  Vera  Cruz  was  afterward  built,  and  moved  on 
through  the  country  toward  the  city  of  Mexico.  Study 
ing,  in  all  the  histories  of  the  Conquest,  only  their  inci 
dental  references  to  the  civilized  condition  of  the  people, 
we  can  see  plainly  what  it  was.  As  the  invaders  ap 
proached  Tlascala,  they  found  "beautiful  whitewashed 
houses"  scattered  over  the  country.  The  Tlascalans  had 
towns,  cities,  agriculture,  and  markets.  Cortez  found 
among  them  all  that  was  needed  by  his  troops.  His  su 
premacy  in  Tlascala  was  easily  established ;  and  it  was 
not  difficult  to  induce  the  people  to  aid  him  cordially  in 
his  operations  against  Mexico,  for  they  hated  the  Aztecs, 
by  whom  they  had  recently  been  subjugated.  In  a  de- 


The  Aztec  Civilisation.  211 

scription  of  their  capital,  lie  stated  that  it  was  as  large 
as  the  city  of  Granada,  in  Spain. 

He  went  next  to  Cholulu,  where,  near  the  great  mound, 
was  an  important  city,  in  which  they  saw  a  "great  plaza." 
Bernal  Diaz  said  of  this  city, "  I  well  remember,  when 
we  first  entered  this  town  and  looked  up  to  the  elevated 
white  temples,  how  the  whole  place  put  us  completely  in 
mind  of  Valladolid."  The  "  white  temples"  were  "  ele 
vated"  because  they  stood  on  high  pyramidal  founda 
tions,  just  as  they  are  seen  in  the  old  ruins.  It  is  proba 
ble,  however,  that  these  were  built  of  adobe  bricks  or  of 
timber.  The  city  very  likely  was  much  older  than  the 
Aztec  empire.  A  Spanish  officer  named  Ordaz  ascend 
ed  Mount  Popocatapetl,  and  one  thing  he  saw  was  "  the 
Valley  of  Mexico,  with  its  city,  its  lagunas  and  islands, 
and  its  scattered  hamlets,  a  busy  throng  of  life  being  ev 
ery  where  visible." 

THE    CITY    OF    MEXICO. 

At  the  city  of  Mexico  Cortez  had  a  great  reception, 
negotiation  having  established  the  form  of  friendly  re 
lations  between  him  and  Montezuma.  Quarters  were 
provided  in  the  city  for  the  Spanish  portion  of  his  army, 
a  vast  edifice  being  set  apart  for  their  use  which  fur 
nished  ample  accommodations  for  the  whole  force.  The 
place  could  be  entered  only  by  causeways.  They  march 
ed  on  a  wide  avenue  which  led  through  the  heart  of  the 
city,  beholding  the  size,  architecture,  and  beauty  of  the 
Aztec  capital  with  astonishment.  This  avenue  was  lined 
with  some  of  the  finest  houses,  built  of  a  porous  red 


212  Ancient  America. 

stone  dug  from  quarries  in  the  neighborhood.  The  peo 
ple  gathered  in  crowds  on  the  streets,  on  the  flat  roofs, 
in  the  doorways,  and  at  the  windows  to  witness  the  ar 
rival  of  the  Spaniards.  Most  of  the  streets  were  narrow, 
and  had  houses  of  a  much  less  imposing  character.  The 
great  streets  went  over  numerous  canals,  on  well-built 
bridges.  Montezuma's  palace  was  a  low,  irregular  pile 
of  stone  structures  extending  over  a  large  space  of 
ground. 

Among  the  teocallis  of  the  Aztec  capital  the  "great 
temple"  stood  foremost.  It  was  situated  in  the  centre 
of  a  vast  in  closure,  which  was  surrounded  by  a  heavy 
wall  eight  feet  high,  built  of  prepared  stone.  This'in- 
closure  was  entered  by  four  gateways  opening  on  the 
four  principal  streets  of  the  city.  The  "  temple"  was  a 
solid  structure  built  of  earth  and  pebbles,  and  faced 
from  top  to  bottom  with  hewn  stone  laid  in  mortar.  It 
had  five  stages,  each  receding  so  as  to  be  smaller  than 
that  below  it.  In  general  outline  it  was  a  rectangular 
pyramid  three  hundred  feet  square  at  the  base,  with  a 
level  summit  of  considerable  extent,  on  which  were  two 
towers,  and  two  altars  where  "perpetual  fires"  were 
maintained.  Here  the  religious  ceremonies  were  con 
ducted.  The  ascent  was  by  a  circular  flight  of  steps  on 
the  outside  which  went  four  times  around  the  structure. 
The  water  in  the  lagoons  being  salt,  the  city  was  sup 
plied  with  water  by  means  of  an  aqueduct  which  ex 
tended  to  Chapultepec. 

Such  substantially  is  the  account  given  of  the  old  city 
of  Mexico  and  its  great  temple  by  every  writer  who  saw 


The  Aztec  Civilisation.  213 

them  before  the  Conquest,  and  all  the  struggles  which 
took  place  for  possession  of  this  capital  had  a  character 
that  would  have  been  impossible  any  where  save  in  a 
large  city.  In  every  account  of  the  attacks  on  tli6  great 
temple,  we  can  see  that  it  was  a  great  temple ;  and  we 
may  perceive  what  the  old  city  was  by  reading  any  ac 
count  of  the  desperate  and  bloody  battles  in  which  the 
Spaniards  were  driven  from  it,  after  standing  a  ten  days' 
siege  in  the  great  stone  building  they  occupied. 

THE    CONQUEST. 

This  battle  took  place  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1520, 
several  months  after  the  friendly  reception,  and  was  oc 
casioned  by  the  treacherous  and  most  atrocious  proceed 
ings  of  the  Spaniards,  which  drove  the  Mexicans  to  mad 
ness.  Nearly  a  year  passed  before  Cortez  made  another 
attack  on  the  Mexican  capital.  During  this  time  he 
found  means  among  the  Tlascalans  to  build  a  flotilla  of 
thirteen  vessels,  which  were  transported  in  pieces  to  Lake 
Tezcuco  and  there  put  together.  This  would  have  been 
impossible  if  he  had  not  found  in  the  country  suitable 
tools  and  mechanics.  By  means  of  these  vessels  armed 
with  cannon,  and  assisted  by  a  great  army  of  native  al 
lies  consisting  of  Tlascalans,  Cholulans,  and  many  others, 
he  took  control  of  the  lagunas,  secured  possession  of  the 
causeways,  and  attacked  the  city  in  vain  for  forty-five 
days,  although  his  men  several  times  penetrated  to  the 
great  square.  He  now  resolved  to  enter  by  gradual  ad 
vances,  and  destroy  every  thing  as  he  went.  This  he 
did,  burning  what  was  combustible,  and  tearing  down 


214  Ancient  America. 

most  of  the  edifices  built  of  stone  j  nevertheless,  thirty 
or  forty  days  more  passed  before  this  work  of  destruc 
tion  was  complete.  The  inhabitants  of  the  city  were 
given-over  to  extermination. 

The  conquerors  proceeded  immediately  to  rebuild  the 
city,  native  architects  chiefly  being  employed  to  do  the 
work.  Materials  for  the  rebuilding  were  taken  from  the 
ruins  ;  probably  many  of  the  old  Aztec  foundations  were 
retained,  and  there  may  now  be  edifices  in  the  city  of 
Mexico  which  stand  on  some  of  these  foundations. 
Twelve  acres  of  the  great  inclosure  of  the  Aztec  temple 
were  taken  for  a  Spanish  plaza,  and  are  still  used  for 
this  purpose,  while  the  site  of  the  temple  is  occupied  by 
a  cathedral.  The  plaza  is  paved  with  marble.  Like  the 
rest  of  the  great  inclosure,  it  was  paved  when  the  Span 
iards  first  saw  it,  and  the  paving  was  so  perfect  and  so 
smooth  that  their  horses  were  liable  to  slip  and  fall  when 
they  attempted  to  ride  over  it. 

Some  relics  recovered  from  ruins  of  the  old  temple 
have  been  preserved.  Among  them  is  the  great  Aztec 
calendar  which  belonged  to  it,  on  which  are  carved  hie 
roglyphics  representing  the  months  of  the  year.  This 
calendar  was  found  in  1790  buried  in  the  great  square. 
It  was  carved  from  a  mass  of  porous  basalt,  and  made 
eleven  feet  eight  inches  in  diameter.  It  was  a  fixture  of 
the  Aztec  temple ;  it  is  now  walled  into  one  side  of  the 
cathedral.  The  "  stone  of  sacrifice,"  another  relic  of  the 
temple,  nine  feet  in  diameter,  and  covered  with  sculp 
tured  hieroglyphics,  can  still  be  seen  in  the  city,  and  in 
the  suburbs,  it  is  said,  vestiges  of  the  ruins  of  long  lines 


The  Aztec  Civilization.  215 

of  edifices  can  be  traced.  Calendars  made  of  gold  and 
silver  were  common  in  Mexico.  Before  Cortez  reached 
the  capital,  Montezuma  sent  him  two  "  as  large  as  cart 
wheels,"  one  representing  the  sun,  the  other  the  moon, 
both  "  richly  carved."  During  the  sack  of  the  city  a 
calendar  of  gold  was  found  by  a  soldier  in  a  pond  of 
Guatemozin's  garden.  But  these  Spaniards  did  not  go 
to  Mexico  to  study  Aztec  astronomy,  nor  to  collect  curi 
osities.  In  their  hands  every  article  of  gold  was  speedi 
ly  transformed  into  coin. 

In  every  Spanish  description  of  the  city  we  can  see 
its  resemblance  to  cities  whose  ruins  are  found  farther 
south.  If  the  Spaniards  had  invented  the  temple,  they 
would  not  have  made  it  unlike  any  thing  they  had  ever 
before  seen  or  heard  of,  by  placing  its  altar  on  the  sum 
mit  of  a  high  pyramid.  This  method  of  constructing 
temples  is  seen  in  the  old  ruins,  but  it  was  unknown  to 
Cortez  and  his  men  until  they  found  it  in  Mexico.  The 
only  reasonable  or  possible  explanation  of  what  they 
said  of  it  is,  that  the  temple  actually  existed  at  the  Aztec 
capital,  and  that  the  Spaniards,  being  there,  described 
what  they  saw.  The  uniform  testimony  of  all  who  saw 
the  country  at  that  time  shows  that  the  edifices  of  towns 
and  cities,  wherever  they  went,  were  most  ccfmmonly 
built  of  cut  stone  laid  in  mortar,  or  of  timber,  and  that 
in  the  more  rural  districts  thatch  was  frequently  used 
for  the  roofs  of  dwellings.  Moreover,  we  are  told  re 
peatedly  that  the  Spaniards  employed  "  Mexican  ma 
sons,"  and  found  them  "very  expert"  in  the  arts  of 
building  and  plastering.  There  is  no  good  reason  to 


216  Ancient  America. 

doubt  that  the  civilized  condition  of  the  country,  when 
the  Spaniards  found  it,  was  superior  to  what  it  has  been 
at  any  time  since  the  Conquest. 

WHO   WERE   THE    AZTECS? 

The  Mexicans,  or  Aztecs,  subjugated  by  Cortez,  were 
themselves  invaders,  whose  extended  dominion  was  prob 
ably  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  old,  although 
they  had  been  much  longer  in  the  Yalley  of  Mexico. 
There  were  important  portions  of  the  country,  especially 
at  the  south,  to  which  their  rule  had  not  been  extended. 
In  several  districts  besides  those  of  the  Mayas  and  the 
Quiches  the  natives  still  maintained  independent  gov 
ernments.  The  Aztec  conquest  of  the  central  region, 
between  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Pacific,  was  com 
pleted  only  a  few  years  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  the  conquest  of  this  region  had  not  been 
fully  secured  at  some  points,  as  appeared  in  the  readi 
ness  of  the  Tlascalans  and  others  to  act  in  alliance  with 
Cortez.  But  the  Aztecs  did  not  come  from  abroad.  They 
belonged  in  the  country,  and  seem  to  have  been  origin 
ally  an  obscure  and  somewhat  rude  branch  of  the  native 
race. 

It  is  very  probable  that  the  Colhuas  and  Nahuas  or 
Toltecs  of  the  old  books  and  traditions,  together  with 
the  Aztecs,  were  all  substantially  the  same  people.  They 
established  in  the  country  three  distinct  family  groups 
of  language,  it  is  said,  but  the  actual  significance  of  this 
difference  in  speech  has  not  been  clearly  determined. 
These  unlike  groups  of  language  have  not  been  sum*- 


The  Aztec  Civilization.  217 

ciently  analyzed  and  studied  to  justify  us  in  assuming 
that  they  did  not  all  come  from  the  same  original  source, 
or  that  there  is  a  more  radical  difference  between  them 
than  between  the  Sclavonic,  Teutonic,  and  Scandinavian 
groups  in  Europe.  These  ancient  Americans  were  dis 
tinct  from  each  other  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  but 
not  so  distinct  as  to  show  much  difference  in  their  relig 
ious  ideas,  their  mythology,  their  ceremonies  of  worship, 
their  methods  of  building,  or  in  the  general  character  of 
their  civilization. 

If  the  Toltecs  and  our  Mound-Builders  wrere  the  same 
people,  they  probably  went  from  Mexico  and  Central 
America  to  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  at  a  very  re 
mote  period,  as  Colhuan  colonies,  and  after  a  long  resi 
dence  there  returned  so  much  changed  in  speech  and  in 
other  respects  as  to  seem  a  distinct  people.  The  Aztecs 
appear  to  have  dwelt  obscurely  in  the  south  before  they 
rose  to  power.  They  must  have  been  at  first  much  less 
advanced  in  civilization  than  their  predecessors,  but  ready 
to  adopt  the  superior  knowledge  and  methods  of  the 
country  they  invaded. 

THEY    CAME    FEOM    THE    SOUTH. 

It  has  sometimes  been  assumed  that  the  Aztecs  came 
to  Mexico  from  the  north,  but  there  is  nothing  to  war 
rant  this  assumption,  nothing  to  make  it  probable,  noth 
ing  even  to  explain  the  fact  that  some  persons  have  en 
tertained  it.  People  of  the  ancient  Mexican  and  Central 
American  race  are  not  found  farther  north  than  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  where  they  are  known  as  Pueblosr 

K 


218  Ancient  America. 

or  Village  Indians.  In  the  old  times  that  was  a  frontier 
region,  and  the  Pueblos  seem  to  represent  ancient  set 
tlers  who  went  there  from  the  south.  There  was  the 
border  line  between  the  Mexican  race  and  the  wild  In 
dians,  and  the  distinction  between  the  Pueblos  and  the 
savage  tribes  is  every  way  so  uniform  and  so  great  that 
it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  believe  they  all  belong  to 
the  same  race.  In  fact,  no  people  really  like  our  wild 
Indians  of  North  America  have  ever  been  found  in  Mex 
ico,  Central  America,  or  South  America. 

Investigation  has  made  it  probable  that  the  Mexicans 
or  Aztecs  went  to  the  Valley  of  Mexico  from  the  south. 
Mr.  Squier  says :  "  The  hypothesis  of  a  migration  from 
Nicaragua  and  Cuscutlan  to  Anahuac  is  altogether  more 
consonant  with  probabilities  and  with  tradition  than  that 
which  derives  the  Mexicans  from  the  north ;  and  it  is  a 
significant  fact,  that  in  the  map  of  their  migrations  pre 
sented  by  Gemelli,  the  place  of  the  origin  of  the  Aztecs 
is  designated  by  the  sign  of  water  (atl  standing  for  Azt- 
lan),  a  pyramidal  temple  with  grades,  and  near  these  a 
palm-tree."  Humboldt  thought  this  indicated  a  south 
ern  origin. 

Communities  of  Aztecs  still  exist  as  far  south  as  Nic 
aragua  and  Costa  Rica,  with  some  variations  in  their 
speech,  but  not  so  great,  probably,  as  to  make  them  unin 
telligible  to  each  other.  The  Spanish  historian,  Oviedo, 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  an  isolated  community 
of  Aztecs  was  found  occupying  the  territory  between 
Lake  Nicaragua  and  the  Pacific.  They  were  called 
Niquiraris3  and  Mr.  Squier  seems  to  have  verified  this 


The  Aztec  Civilization.  219 

fact.  The  result  of  his  investigation  is  that  the  people 
of  the  district  specified  are  Aztecs,  and  that, "  from  the 
comparative  lateness  of  the  separation  or  some  other 
cause,"  their  distinguishing  features  were  easily  recog 
nized,  their  speech  being  nearly  identical  with  the  native 
speech  heard  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  Oviedo  said  of 
them  :  "  The  Niquirans  who  speak  the  Mexican  language 
have  the  same  manners  and  appearance  as  the  people  of 
New  Spain  (Mexico)."  In  the  neighboring  districts,  com 
munities  closely  related  to  the  Mayas  are  found,  and  oth 
ers  that  appear  to  belong  to  the  Toltec  family.  Aztecs 
are  found  still  farther  south,  and  there  appear  to  be  con 
clusive  reasons  for  believing  that  Montezuma's  people 
went  from  the  south  to  Anahuac  or  Mexico. 

According  to  the  native  histories  as  reported  by  Clavi- 
gero,  the  Aztecs  began  their  migration  northward  from 
Aztlan  about  the  year  1160  A.D.,  and  founded  the  more 
important  of  their  first  settlements  in  the  Yalley  of  Mex 
ico  about  the  year  1216  A.D.,  a  little  over  three  hundred 
years  previous  to  the  Spanish  invasion.  Another  result 
of  investigation  adds  a  century  to  this  estimate.  This 
result  is  reached  as  follows:  the  Mexicans  stated  con 
stantly  that  their  calendar  was  reformed  some  time  after 
they  left  Aztlan,  and  that  in  the  year  1519  eight  cycles 
of  fifty-two  years  each  and  thirteen  years  of  a  ninth  cycle 
had  passed  since  that  reform  was  made.  This  carries 
back  the  beginning  of  their  migration  considerably  be 
yond  the  year  1090  A.D. 

Their  sway  seems  to  have  been  confined  for  a  long 
time  to  Anahuac.  They  grew  to  supremacy  in  part  prob- 


220  Ancient  America. 

ably  by  the  arrival  of  new  immigrants,  but  chiefly  by 
conquest  of  the  small  states  into  which  the  country  was 
divided.  They  could  learn  from  their  more  cultivated 
neighbors  to  reform  their  calendar,  compute  time  with 
greater  accuracy,  and  make  important  improvements  in 
other  respects.  They  must  also  have  modified  their  re 
ligious  system  to  some  extent,  for  it  does  not  appear  that 
they  had  adopted  the  worship  of  Kukulcan  (whose  name 
they  transformed  into  Quetzalcohuatl)  before  they  came 
to  Mexico.  But  they  brought  with  them  an  effective 
political  organization,  and"  very  likely  they  wrere  better 
fitted  than  most  of  their  new  neighbors  for  the  rude 
work  of  war. 

Before  the  city  of  Mexico  was  built,  the  seat  of  their 
government  was  at  Tezcuco.  The  character  of  their 
civilization  after  they  rose  to  pre-eminence  was  shown 
in  their  organization,  in  their  skill  as  builders,  in  the 
varied  forms  of  their  industry,  and  in  the  development 
of  their  religious  ceremonies.  It  is  manifest  that  they 
adopted  all  the  astronomical  knowledge  and  appliances 
found  in  the  neighboring  states  which  they  subjugated. 
Their  measure  of  the  solar  year  and  their  numbering  of 
the  months  were  precisely  like  what  had  long  existed  in 
this  part  of  the  country ;  and  they  had  the  same  astro 
nomical  implements  or  contrivances.  One  of  these  con 
trivances,  found  at  Chapultepec,  is  described  as  follows  : 

"  On  the  horizontal  plane  of  a  large,  carefully-worked 
stone,  three  arrows  were  cut  in  relief,  so  that  the  shaft 
ends  came  together  and  made  equal  angles  in  the  centre. 
The  points  were  directed  eastward,  the  two  outside  show- 


The  Aztec  Civilization.  221 

Ing  the  two  solstitial  points,  and  that  in  the  centre  the 
equinoctial.  A  line  on  the  carved  band  holding  them 
together  was  in  range  with  holes  in  two  stones  which 
stood  exactly  north  and  south.  A  cord  drawn  tightly 
through  the  holes  in  these  two  stones  would,  at  the  mo 
ment  of  noon,  cast  its  shadow  on  the  line  drawn  across 
the  band.  It  was  a  perfect  instrument  for  ascertaining 
east  and  west  with  precision,  and  for  determining  the 
exact  time  by  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun  at  the 
equinoxes  and  solstices.  This  stone  has  now  been  broken 
up  and  used  to  construct  a  furnace." 

These  Aztecs  were  manifestly  something  very  differ 
ent  from  "  Mexican  savages."  At  the  same  time,  they 
were  less  advanced  in  many  things  than  their  predeces 
sors.  Their  skill  in  architecture  and  architectural  orna 
mentation  did  not  enable  them  to  build  such  cities  as 
Mitla  and  Palenque,  and  their  "  picture  writing"  was  a 
much  ruder  form  of  the  graphic  art  than  the  phonetic 
system  of  the  Mayas  and  Quiches.  It  does  not  appear 
that  they  ever  went  so  far  in  literary  improvement  as  to 
adopt  this  simpler  and  more  complete  system  for  any 
purpose  whatever.  If  the  country  had  never,  in  the  pre 
vious  ages,  felt  the  influence  of  a  higher  culture  than 
that  of  the  Aztecs,  it  would  not  have  now,  and  never 
could  have  had,  ruined  cities  like  Mitla,  Copan,  and  Pa 
lenque.  Xot  only  was  the  system  of  writing  shown  by 
the  countless  inscriptions  quite  beyond  the  attainments 
of  Aztec  art,  but  also  the  abundant  sculptures  and  the 
whole  system  of  decoration  found  in  the  old  ruins. 


222  Ancient  America. 


X. 

ANCIENT  PERU. 

THE  ruins  of  Ancient  Peru  are  found  chiefly  on  the 
elevated  table-lands  of  the  Andes,  between  Quito  and 
Lake  Titicaca;  but  they  can  be  traced  five  hundred  miles 
farther  south,  to  Chili,  and  throughout  the  region  con 
necting  these  high  plateaus  with  the  Pacific  coast.  The 
great  district  to  which  they  belong  extends  north  and 
south  about  two  thousand  miles.  When  the  marauding 
Spaniards  arrived  in  the  country,  this  whole  region  was 
the  seat  of  a  populous  and  prosperous  empire,  complete 
in  its  civil  organization,  supported  by  an  efficient  system 
of  industry,  and  presenting  a  very  notable  development 
of  some  of  the  more  important  arts  of  civilized  life. 
These  ruins  differ  from  those  in  Mexico  and  Central 
America.  No  inscriptions  are  found  in  Peru;  there  is 
no  longer  a  "marvelous  abundance  of  decorations;" 
nothing  is  seen  like  the  monoliths  of  Copan  or  the  bas- 
reliefs  of  Palenque.  The  method  of  building  is  differ 
ent  ;  the  Peruvian  temples  were  not  high  truncated  pyr 
amids,  and  the  great  edifices  were  not  erected  on  py 
ramidal  foundations.  The  Peruvian  ruins  show  us  re 
mains  of  cities,  temples,  palaces,  other  edifices  of  various 
kinds,  fortresses,  aqueducts  (one  of  them  four  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  long),  great  roads  (extending  through  the 


Ancient  Peru.  223 

whole  length  of  the  empire),  and  terraces  on  the  sides  of 
mountains.  For  all  these  constructions  the  builders  used 
cut  stone  laid  in  mortar  or  cement,  and  their  work  was 
done  admirably,  but  it  is  every  where  seen  that  the  ma 
sonry,  although  sometimes  ornamented,  was  generally 
plain  in  style  and  always  massive.  The  antiquities  in 
this  region  have  not  been  as  much  explored  and  de 
scribed  as  those  north  of  the  isthmus,  but  their  general 
character  is  known,  and  particular  descriptions  of  some 
of  them  have  been  published. 

THE    SPANISH    HUNT    FOE    PERU. 

The  Spanish  conquest  of  Peru  furnishes  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  chapters  in  the  history  of  audacious 
villainy.  It  was  the  work  of  successful  buccaneers  as 
unscrupulous  as  any  crew  of  pirates  that  ever  robbed 
and  murdered  on  the  ocean.  After  their  settlements 
began  on  the  islands  and  the  Atlantic  coast,  rumors 
came  to  them  of  a  wonderful  country  somewhere  at  a 
distance  in  the  west.  They  knew  nothing  of  another 
ocean  between  them  and  the  Indies ;  the  western  side  of 
the  continent  was  a  veiled  land  of  mystery,  but  the  ru 
mors,  constantly  repeated,  assured  them  that  there  was  a 
country  in  that  unknown  region  where  gold  was  more 
abundant  than  iron  among  themselves.  Their  strongest 
passions  were  moved  ;  greed  for  the  precious  metals  and 
thirst  for  adventures. 

Balboa  was  hunting  for  Peru  when  he  discovered  the 
Pacific,  about  1511  A.D.  He  was  guided  across  the 
isthmus  by  a  young  native  chief,  who  told  him  of  that 


224:  Ancient  America. 

ocean,  saying  it  was  the  best  way  to  the  country  where 
all  the  common  household  utensils  were  made  of  gold. 
At  the  Bay  of  Panama  Balboa  heard  more  of  Peru,  and 
went  down  the  coast  to  find  it,  but  did  not  go  south 
much  beyond  the  eighth  degree  of  north  latitude.  In 
his  company  of  adventurers  at  this  time  was  Francisco 
Pizarro,  by  whom  Peru  was  found,  subjugated,  robbed, 
and  ruined,  some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  later.  Balboa 
was  superseded  by  Pedrarias,  another  greedy  adventurer, 
whose  jealousy  arrested  his  operations  and  finally  put 
him  to  death.  The  town  of  Panama  was  founded  in 
1519  by  this  Pedrarias,  chiefly  as  a  point  on  the  Pacific 
from  which  he  could  seek  and  attack  Peru.  Under  his 
direction,  in  1522,  the  search  was  attempted  by  Pascual 
de  Andagoya,  but  he  failed  to  get  down  the  coast  beyond 
the  limit  of  Balboa's  exploration.  Meanwhile  clearer 
and  more  abundant  reports  of  the  rich  and  marvelous 
nation  to  be  found  somewhere  below  that  point  were  cir 
culated  among  the  Spaniards,  and  their  eagerness  to 
reach  it  became  intense. 

In  1524,  three  men  could  have  been  seen  in  Panama 
busily  engaged  preparing  another  expedition  to  go  in 
search  of  the  golden  country.  These  were  Francisco 
Pizarro,  a  bold  and  capable  adventurer,  who  could  nei 
ther  read  nor  write ;  Diego  de  Almagro,  an  impulsive, 
passionate,  reckless  soldier  of  fortune,  and  Hernando  de 
Luque,  a  Spanish  ecclesiastic,  Vicar  of  Panama,  and  a 
man  well  acquainted  with  the  world  and  skilled  in  read 
ing  character,  acting  at  this  time,  it  is  said,  for  another 
person  who  kept  out  of  view.  They  had  formed  an  alii- 


Ancient  Peru.  225 

ance  to  discover  and  rob  Peru.  Luque  would  furnish 
most  of  the  funds,  and  wait  in  Panama  for  the  others  to 
do  the  work.  Pizarro  would  be  commander-in-chief. 
The  vessels  used  would  necessarily  be  such  as  could  be 
built  at  Panama,  and,  therefore,  not  very  efficient. 

Pizarro  went  down  the  coast,  landing  from  time  to 
time  to  explore  and  rob  villages,  until  he  reached  about 
the  fourth  degree  of  north  latitude,  when  he  was  obliged 
to  return  for  supplies  and  repairs.  It  became  necessary 
to  reconstruct  the  contract  and  allow  Pedrarias  an  inter 
est  in  it.  On  the  next  voyage,  one  of  the  vessels  went 
half  a  degree  south  of  the  equator,  and  encountered  a 
vessel  "  like  a  European  caravel,"  which  was,  in  fact,  a 
Peruvian  balsa,  loaded  with  merchandise,  vases,  mirrors 
of  burnished  silver,  and  curious  fabrics  of  cotton  and 
woolen. 

It  became  again  indispensable  to  send  back  to  Pana 
ma  for  supplies  and  repairs,  and  Pizarro  was  doomed 
to  wait  for  them  seven  months  on  an  island.  He  next 
visited  Tumbez,  in  Peru,  and  \vent  to  the  ninth  degree  of 
south  latitude ;  but  he  was  obliged  to  visit  Spain  to  get 
necessary  aid  before  he  could  attempt  any  thing  more, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  year  1531  that  the  conquest  of 
Peru  was  actually  undertaken. 

In  1531  Pizarro  finally  entered  Tumbez  with  his  buc 
caneers,  and  marched  into  the  country,  sending  word  to 
the  Inca  that  he  came  to  aid  him  against  his  enemies. 
There  had  been  a  civil  war  in  the  country,  which  had 
been  divided  by  the  great  Inca,  Huayna  Capac,  the  con 
queror  of  Quito,  between  his  two  sons,  Huascar  and  Ata- 

K2 


226  Ancient  America. 

huallpa,  and  Hnascar  had  been  defeated  and  thrown  into 
prison,  and  finally  put  to  death.  At  a  city  called  Caxa- 
malca,  Pizarro  contrived,  by  means  of  the  most  atrocious 
treachery,  to  seize  the  Inca  and  massacre  some  ten  thou 
sand  of  the  principal  Peruvians,  who  came  to  his  camp 
unarmed  on  a  friendly  visit.  This  threw  the  whole  em 
pire  into  confusion,  and  made  the  conquest  easy.  The 
Inca  filled  a  room  with  gold  as  the  price  of  his  ransom ; 
the  Spaniards  took  the  gold,  broke  their  promise,  and  put 
him  to  death. 

THE   KTJINS    NEAR    LAKE   TTTICACA. 

It  is  now  agreed  that  the  Peruvian  antiquities  repre 
sent  two  distinct  periods  in  the  ancient  history  of  the 
country,  one  being  much  older  than  the  other.  Mr. 
Prescott  accepts  and  repeats  the  opinion  that  "  there  ex 
isted  in  the  country  a  race  advanced  in  civilization  be 
fore  the  time  of  the  Incas,"  and  that  the  ruins  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Titicaca  are  older  than  the  reign  of  the 
first  Inca.  In  the  work  of  Rivero  and  Yon  Tschudi,  it 
is  stated  that  a  critical  examination  of  the  monuments 
"indicates  two  very  different  epochs  in  Peruvian  art,  at 
least  so  far  as  concerns  architecture ;  one  before  and  the 
other  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  Inca."  Among  the 
ruins  which  belong  to  the  older  civilization  are  those 
at  Lake  Titicaca,  old  Huanuco,  Tiahuanaco,  and  Gran- 
Chimu,  and  it  probably  originated  the  roads  and  aque 
ducts.  At  Cuzco  and  other  places  are  remains  of  build 
ings  which  represent  the  later  time;  but  Cuzco  of  the 
Incas  appears  to  have  occupied  the  site  of  a  ruined  city 


Peruvian  Ruins. 


227 


of  the  older  period.  Figure  51  gives  a  view  of  the  an 
cient  Peruvian  masonry.  Montesinos  supposes  the  name 
of  Cuzco  was  derived  from  cosca,  a  Peruvian  word  sig 
nifying  to  level,  or  from  heaps  of  earth  called  coscos, 
which  abounded  there.  In  his  account  of  the  previous 
times  there  is  mention  that  an  old  city  built  there  was 
in  ruins.  Perhaps  the  first  Inca  found  on  its  site  noth 
ing  but  coscos,  or  heaps  of  ruins. 


Pig.  51. — Ancient  Peruvian  Masonry. 

At  Lake  Titicaca  some  of  the  more  important  re 
mains  are  on  the  islands.  On  Titicaca  Island  are  the 
ruins  of  a  great  edifice  described  as  "a  palace  or  tem 
ple."  Remains  of  other  structures  exist,  but  their  ruins 


228 


Ancient  America. 


are  old,  much  older  than  the  time  of  the  Incas.     Fie:- 

'  O 

ures  52  and  53  represent  different  ruins  on  the  island  of 


Titicaca.     They  were  all  built  of  hewn  stone,  and  had 
doors  and  windows,  with  posts,  sills,  and  thresholds  of 


.:!•:"  ..;,  IMffllllilllilllllllllli 


Peruvian  Ruins.  231 

stone,  the  doorways  being  narrower  above  than  below. 
On  the  island  of  Coati  there  are  remarkable  ruins.  The 
largest  bnilding  here  is  also  described  as  "  a  palace  or 
temple,"  although  it  may  have  been  something  else.  It 
was  not  high,  but  very  large  in  extent.  It  stood  around 
three  sides  of  a  parallelogram,  with  some  peculiarities 
of  construction  connected  with  the  ends  or  wings.  Mak 
ing  allowance  for  the  absence  of  the  pyramidal  founda 
tions,  it  has  more  resemblance  to  some  of  the  great  con 
structions  in  Central  America  than  to  any  thing  peculiar 
to  the  later  period  of  Peruvian  architecture.  Another 
ruin  on  this  island  is  shown  in  Figure  54.  The  antiqud- 


Fig.  54.— Ruins  on  the  Island  of  Coati. 

ties  on  the  islands  and  shores  of  this  lake  need  to  be 
more  completely  explored  and  described,  and  probably 
interesting  discoveries  could  be  made  at  some  points  by 
means  of  well-directed  excavations. 

A  few  miles  from  Lake  Titicaca,  at  Tiahuanaco,  are 
ruins  which  wrere  very  imposing  when  first  seen  by  the 
Spaniards  in  tlie  time  of  Pizarro.  It  is  usual  to  speak 


232  Ancient  America. 

of  them  as  the  oldest  ruins  in  Peru,  which  may  or  may 
not  be  correct.  They  must,  however,  be  classed  with 
those  at  the  lake.  Not  much  now  remains  of  the  edi 
fices,  which  were  in  a  very  ruinous  condition  three  hun 
dred  and  forty  years  ago.  They  were  described  by  Cie9a 
de  Leon,  who  accompanied  Pizarro,  and  also  by  Diego 
d'Alcobaga.  Ciega  de  Leon  mentions  "great  edifices" 
that  were  in  ruins, "  an  artificial  hill  raised  on  a  ground 
work  of  stone,"  and  "  two  stone  idols  resembling  the  hu 
man  figure,  and  apparently  made  by  skillful  artificers." 
These  "  idols"  were  great  statues,  ten  or  twelve  feet 
high.  One  of  them,  which  was  carried  to  La  Paz  in 
1842,  measured  "  three  and  a  half  yards"  in  length. 
Sculptured  decorations  appear  on  them,  and,  according  to 
Ciega  de  Leon,  the  figures  seemed  to  be  "  clothed  in  long 
vestments"  different  from  those  worn  in  the  time  of  the 
Incas.  Of  a  very  remarkable  edifice,  whose  foundations 
could  be  traced  near  these  statues,  nothing  remained 
then  "but  a  well-built  wall,  which  must  have  been  there 
for  ages,  the  stones  being  very  much  worn  and  crum 
bled."  Ciega  de  Leon's  description  goes  on  as  follows : 

"  In  this  place,  also,  there  are  stones  so  large  and  so 
overgrown  that  our  wonder  is  incited,  it  being  incompre 
hensible  how  the  power  of  man  could  have  placed  them 
where  we  see  them.  They  are  variously  wrought,  and 
some  of  them,  having  the  form  of  men,  must  have  been 
idols.  Near  the  walls  are  many  caves  and  excavations 
under  the  earth,  but  in  another  place,  farther  west,  are 
other  and  greater  monuments,  such  as  large  gateways 
with  hinges,  platforms,  and  porches,  each  made  of  a  sin- 


Peruvian  Ruins. 


233 


gle  stone.  It  surprised  me  to  see  these  enormous  gate 
ways  made  of  great  masses  of  stone,  some  of  which 
were  thirty  feet  long,  fifteen  high,  and  six  thick." 

Many  of  the  stone  monuments  at  Tiahuanaco  have 
been  removed,  some  for  building,  some  for  other  pur 
poses.  In  one  case, "  large  masses  of  sculptured  stone 
ten  yards  in  length  and  six  in  width"  were  used  to  make 
grinding  stones  for  a  chocolate  mill.  The  principal  mon 
uments  now  seen  on  this  field  of  ruins  are  a  vast  mound 
covering  several  acres,  where  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
great  edifice,  fragments  of  columns,  erect  slabs  of  stone 
which  formed  parts  of  buildings,  and  several  of  the  mon 
olithic  gateways,  the  largest  of  which  was  made  of  a  sin 
gle  stone  ten  feet  high  and  thirteen  broad.  Figure  55 
gives  a  view  of  one.  The  doorway  is  six  feet  four  inches 


Fig.  55.— Mouolithic  Gateway  at  Tiauuuuaci 


234: 


Ancient  America. 


high,  and  three  feet  two  inches  wide.  Above  it,  along 
the  whole  length  of  the  stone,  which  is  now  broken,  is  a 
cornice  covered  with  sculptured  figures.  "  The  whole 
neighborhood,"  says  Mr.  Squier,  "  is  strewn  with  im 
mense  blocks  of  stone  elab 
orately  wrought,  equaling,  if 
not  surpassing  in  size,  any 
known  to  exist  in  Egypt  or 
India." 

At  Cuzco,  two   or   more 
degrees  north  of  Lake  Titi- 
6  caca,   there    are    ruins    of 
1  buildings   that  were    occu- 
*  pied  until  the  rule   of  the 
js  Incas  was  overthrown.    Re- 
|  mains  of  the  old  structures 
|  are  seen  in  various  parts  of 
£  the  present  town,  some  of 
|  them  incorporated  into  new 
|  edifices  bailt  by  the  Span- 
I  iards.      Cyclopean  remains 
^0  of  walls  of  the  Temple  of 
N  the  Sun   now  constitute   a 
portion  of  the  Convent  of 
St.  Domingo.  In  the  days  of 
the  Incas,  this  temple  stood 
"  a  circuit  of  more  than  four 
hundred  paces,"  and  was  sur 
rounded  by  a  great  wall  built 
of  cut  stone.     Remains  of 


;: 


Peruvian  Ruins. 


235 


the  old  fortifications  are  seen ;  and  there  is  an  extensive 
ruin  here  which  shows  what  is  supposed  to  be  all  that  re 
mains  of  the  palace  of  the  Incas.  Figures  56  and  57 
give  views  of  remains  of  the  ancient  fortress  walls  at 


236  Ancient  America. 

Cuzco.  Occasionally  there  is  search  at  Cuzco,  by  means 
of  excavation,  for  antiquities.  Within  a  few  years  an 
important  discovery  has  been  made  ;  a  lunar  calendar  of 
the  Incas,  made  of  gold,  has  been  exhumed.  At  first  it 
was  described  as  "  a  gold  breastplate  or  sun ;"  but  Wil 
liam  Bollaert,  who  gives  an  account  of  it,  finds  that  it 
is  a  calendar,  the  first  discovered  in  Peru.  Many  others, 
probably,  went  to  the  melting-pot  at  the  time  of  the  Con 
quest.  This  is  not  quite  circular.  The  outer  ring  is  five 
inches  and  three  tenths  in  diameter,  and  the  inner  four 
inches.  It  was  made  to  be  fastened  to  the  breast  of  an 
Inca  or  priest.  The  figures  were  stamped  on  it,  and 
there  "  seem  to  be  twenty-four  compartments,  large  and 
small,  including  three  at  the  top.  At  the  bottom  are 
two  spaces ;  figures  may  or  may  not  have  been  there, 
but  it  looks  as  if  they  had  been  worn  away."  It  was 
found  about  the  year  1859. 

The  uniform  and  constant  report  of  Peruvian  tradi 
tion  places  the  beginning  of  this  old  civilization  in  the 
Yalley  of  Cuzco,  near  Lake  Titicaca.  There  appeared 
the  first  civilizers  and  the  first  civilized  communities. 
This  beautiful  valley  is  the  most  elevated  table-land  on 
the  continent,  Lake  Titicaca  being  12,846  feet  above  the 
sea  level.  Were  it  not  within  the  tropics,  it  would  be  a 
region  of  eternal  snow,  for  it  is  more  than  4000  feet 

o 

higher  than  the  beginning  of  perpetual  snow  on  Mont 
Blanc.  Near  it  are  some  of  the  higher  peaks  of  the  An 
des,  among  them  Sorato,  Illimani,  and  Sahama. 


Peruvian  Ruins.  237 


OTHER    EUINS    IN    PERU. 

The  ancient  Peru  conquered  and  robbed  by  Pizarro  is 
now  divided  into  Ecuador,  Peru,  Bolivia,  and  Chili  as  far 
down  as  the  thirty-seventh  degree  of  south  latitude.  Its 
remains  are  found  to  some  extent  in  all  these  countries, 
although  most  abundantly  in  Peru. 

The  ruins  known  as  "  the  Palaces  of  Gran-Chimu"  are 
situated  in  the  northwestern  part  of  Peru,  near  Truxillo. 
Here,  in  the  time  of  the  first  Incas,  was  an  independent 
state,  which  was  subjugated  by  the  Inca  set  down  in  the 
list  of  Montesinos  as  the  grandfather  of  Huayna  Capac, 
about  a  century  before  the  Spaniards  arrived.  For  what 
is  known  of  these  ruins  we  are  chiefly  indebted  to  Mari 
ano  Rivero,  director  of  the  National  Museum  at  Lima. 
They  cover  a  space  of  three  quarters  of  a  league,  with 
out  including  the  walled  squares  found  on  every  side. 
The  chief  objects  of  interest  are  the  remains  of  two 
great  edifices  called  palaces.  "  These  palaces  are  im 
mense  areas  surrounded  by  high  walls  of  brick,  the  walls 
being  now  ten  or  twelve  yards  high  and  six  feet  thick  at 
the  base."  There  was  in  each  case  another  wall  exterior 
to  this.  Within  the  palace  walls  were  squares  and  dwell 
ings,  with  narrow  passages  between  them,  and  the  walls 
are  decorated.  In  the  largest  palace  are  the  remains  of 
a  great  reservoir  for  water,  which  was  brought  to  it  by 
subterranean  aqueducts  from  the  River  Moche,  two  miles 
distant.  Outside  the  inclosures  of  these  palaces  are  re 
mains  of  a  vast  number  of  buildings,  which  indicate  that 
the  city  contained  a  great  population.  The  Spaniards 


238 


Ancient  America. 


took  vast  quantities  of  gold  from  the  huacas  or  tombs  at 
this  place.  The  amount  taken  from  a  single  tomb  in  the 
years  1566  and  1592  was  officially  estimated  at  nearly 
a  million  dollars.  Figure  58  presents  an  end  view  of 


Fig.  58.— End  View  of  Walls  at  Gran-Chiinu. 


the  walls  at  Gran-Chi mu.     Figures  59  and  60  represent 
some  of  the  decorations  at  Chimu-Canchu. 


in     /;//ii7imin 
mm 
Figs.  59  and  60.— Decorations  at  Chimu-Cauchu. 


Peruvian  Ruins. 


239 


Remarkable  ruins  exist  at  Cuelap,  in  Northern  Peru. 
"  They  consist  of  a  wall  of  wrought  stones  3600  feet 
long,  560  broad,  and  150  high,  constituting  a  solid  mass 
with  a  level  summit."  Probably  the  interior  was  made 
of  earth.  On  this  mass  was  another, "  600  feet  long,  500 
broad,  and  150  high."  In  this,  and  also  in  the  lowrer 

structure,  there  are  many 
rooms  made  of  wrought 
stone,  in  which  are  a  great 
number  of  niches  or  cells 
one  or  two  yards  deep, 
which  were  used  as  tombs. 
o  Other  old  structures  exist 

§  in  that  neighborhood.  Far 
es  ~ 

2  ther  south,  at  Huanuco  el 
2  Yiego,  or  Old  Huanuco, 
£  are  two  peculiar  edifices 
|  and  a  terrace,  and  near 

2  them  the  faded  traces  of  a 
£  large  town.     The  two  ed- 

flT 

<s  ifices  wrere  built  of  a  com- 

^  position    of  pebbles    and 

3  clay,    faced    with    hewn 
S  stone.     One   of   them   is 

called  the  "Look-out,"  but 
it  is  impossible  to  discover 
the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  built.  The  interior  of 
the  other  is  crossed  by  six 
walls,  in  each  of  which  is 


240 


Ancient  America. 


a  gateway,  the  outer  one  being  finely  finished,  and  show 
ing  a  sculptured  animal  on  each  of  the  upper  corners.  It 
has  a  large  court,  and  rooms  made  of  cut  stones.  Con 
nected  with  this  structure  was  a  well-built  aqueduct 


Fig.  62.— Ground  Plan  of  Edifice  at  Old  Huanuco. 

Figures  61  and  62  give  views  of  the  so-called  palace  and 
its  ground  plan.     Figure  63  represents  the  Look-out. 


Fig.  63.— "Look-out"  at  Old  Huanuco. 


Peruvian  Ruins.  243 

Seven  leagues  from  Lima,  near  the  sea,  are  the  much- 
dilapidated  ruins,  shown  in  Figure  64,  of  a  large  city  of 
the  Incas,  which  was  built  chiefly  of  adobes  or  sun-dried 
bricks.  It  is  called  Pachacamac.  Ruins  of  towns,  cas 
tles,  fortresses,  and  other  structures  are  found  all  about 
the  country.  At  one  place,  near  Chavin  de  Huanta, 
there  are  remarkable  ruins  which  are  very  old.  The 
material  used  here  was  like  that  seen  at  Old  Huanuco. 
From  the  interior  of  one  of  the  great  buildings  there  is 
a  subterranean  passage  which,  it  is  said,  goes  under  the 
river  to  the  opposite  bank.  Yery  ancient  ruins,  showing 
remains  of  large  and  remarkable  edifices,  were  seen  near 
Huamanga,  and  described  by  Ciega  de  Leon.  The  na 
tive  traditions  said  this  city  was  built  by  "  bearded  white 
men,  who  came  there  long  before  the  time  of  the  Incas, 
and  established  a  settlement."  It  is  noticed  every  where 
that  the  ancient  Peruvians  made  large  use  of  aqueducts, 
which  they  built  with  notable  skill,  using  hewn  stones 
and  cement,  and  making  them  very  substantial.  Some 
of  them  are  still  in  use.  They  were  used  to  carry  water 
to  the  cities  and  to  irrigate  the  cultivated  lands.  A  few 
of  them  were  very  long.  There  is  mention  of  one  which 
was  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long,  and  of  another  which 
was  extended  four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  across  sierras 
and  over  rivers,  from  south  to  north. 

THE  GEEAT  PEEUVIAN  EOADS. 

Nothing  in  Ancient  Peru  was  more  remarkable  than 
the  public  roads.  No  ancient  people  has  left  traces  of 
works  more  astonishing  than  these,  so  vast  was  their  ex- 


24:4:  Ancient  America. 

tent,  and  so  great  the  skill  and  labor  required  to  con 
struct  them.  One  of  these  roads  ran  along  the  moun 
tains  through  the  whole  length  of  the  empire,  from  Qui 
to  to  Chili.  Another,  starting  from  this  at  Cuzco,  went 
down  to  the  coast  and  extended  northward  to  the  equa 
tor.  These  roads  were  built  on  beds  or  "  deep  under- 
structures"  of  masonry.  The  width  of  the  roadways 
varied  from  twenty  to  twenty-rive  feet,  and  they  were 
made  level  and  smooth  by  paving,  and  in  some  places 
by  a  sort  of  macadamizing  with  pulverized  stone  mixed 
with  lime  and  bituminous  cement.  This  cement  was 
used  in  all  the  masonry.  On  each  side  of  the  roadway 
was  "a  very  strong  wall  more  than  a  fathom  in  thick 
ness."  These  roads  went  over  marshes,  rivers,  and  great 
chasms  of  the  sierras,  and  through  rocky  precipices  and 
mountain  sides.  The  great  road  passing  along  the  moun 
tains  was  a  marvelous  work.  In  many  places  its  way 
was  cut  through  rock  for  leagues.  Great  ravines  were 
filled  up  with  solid  masonry.  Rivers  were  crossed  by 
means  of  a  curious  kind  of  suspension  bridges,  and  no 
obstruction  was  encountered  which  the  builders  did  not 
overcome.  The  builders  of  our  Pacific  Railroad,  with 
their  superior  engineering  skill  and  mechanical  appli 
ances,  might  reasonably  shrink  from  the  cost  and  the 
difficulties  of  such  a  work  as  this.  Extending  from  one 
degree  north  of  Quito  to  Cuzco,  and  from  Cuzco  to  Chili, 
it  was  quite  as  long  as  the  two  Pacific  railroads,  and  its 
wild  route  among  the  mountains  was  far  more  difficult. 

Sarmiento,  describing  it,  said, "  It  seems  to  me  that  if 
me  emperor  (Charles  V.)  should  see  fit  to  order  the  con- 


Ancient  Peru.  245 

struction  of  another  road  like  that  which  leads  from  Qui 
to  to  Cuzco,  or  that  which  from  Cuzco  goes  toward  Chili, 
I  certainly  think  he  would  not  be  able  to  make  it,  with 
all  his  power."  Humboldt  examined  some  of  the  re 
mains  of  this  road,  and  described  as  follows  a  portion  of 
it  seen  in  a  pass  of  the  Andes,  between  Mansi  and  Loxa: 
"  Our  eyes  rested  continually  on  superb  remains  of  a 
paved  road  of  the  Incas.  The  roadway,  paved  with  well- 
cut,  dark  porphyritic  stone,  was  twenty  feet  wide,  and 
rested  on  deep  foundations.  This  road  was  marvelous. 
None  of  the  Roman  roads  I  have  seen  in  Italy,  in  the 
South  of  France,  or  in  Spain,  appeared  to  me  more  im 
posing  than  this  work  of  the  ancient  Peruvians."  He 
saw  remains  of  several  other  shorter  roads  which  were 
built  in  the  same  way,  some  of  them  between  Loxa  and 
the  River  Amazon.  Along  these  roads  at  equal  distances 
were  edifices,  a  kind  of  caravanseras,  built  of  hewn  stone, 
for  the  accommodation  of  travelers. 

These  great  works  were  described  by  every  Spanish 
writer  on  Peru,  and  in  some  accounts  of  them  we  find 
suggestions  in  regard  to  their  history.  They  are  call 
ed  "  roads  of  the  Incas,"  but  they  were  probably  much 
older  lhan  the  time  of  these  rulers.  The  mountain  road 
running  toward  Quito  was  much  older  than  the  Inca 
Huayna  Capac,  to  whom  it  has  sometimes  been  attrib 
uted.  It  is  stated  that  when  he  started  by  this  route  to 
invade  the  Quitiis,  the  road  was  so  bad  that  "  he  found 
great  difficulties  in  the  passage."  It  was  then  an  old 
road,  much  out  of  repair,  and  he  immediately  ordered 
the  necessary  reconstructions.  Gomara  says,  "Iluayna 


246  Ancient  Amervca. 

Capac  restored,  enlarged,  and  completed  these  roads,  but 
he  did  not  build  them,  as  some  pretend."  These  great 
artificial  highways  were  broken  up  and  made  useless  at 
the  time  of  the  Conquest,  and  the  subsequent  barbarous 
rule  of  the  Spaniards  allowed  them  to  go  to  decay.  Now 
only  broken  remains  of  them  exist  to  show  their  former 
character. 

THE    PEEUVIAN    CIVILIZATION. 

The  development  of  civilization  in  Peru  was  very  dif 
ferent  from  that  in  Mexico  and  Central  America.  In 
both  regions  the  people  were  sun-worshipers,  but  their 
religious  organizations,  as  well  as  their  methods  of  build 
ing  temples,  were  unlike.  Neither  of  these  peoples  seems 
to  have  borrowed  from  the  other.  It  may  be  that  all 
the  old  American  civilizations  had  a  common  origin  in 
South  America,  and  that  all  the  ancient  Americans  whose 
civilization  can  be  traced  in  remains  found  north  of  the 
Isthmus  came  originally  from  that  part  of  the  continent. 
This  hypothesis  appears  to  me  more  probable  than  any 
other  I  have  heard  suggested.  But,  assuming  this  to  be 
true,  the  first  migration  of  civilized  people  from  South 
America  must  have  taken  place  at  a  very  distant  period 
in  the  past,  for  it  preceded  not  only  the  history  indicated 
by  the  existing  antiquities,  but  also  an  earlier  history, 
during  which  the  Peruvians  and  Central  Americans  grew 
to  be  as  different  from  their  ancestors  as  from  each  other. 
In  each  case,  the  development  of  civilization  represented 
by  existing  monuments,  so  far  as  we  can  study  it,  ap 
pears  to  have  been  original. 


Ancient  Peru.  247 

In  some  respects  the  Peruvian  civilization  was  devel 
oped  to  such  a  degree  as  challenged  admiration.  The 
Peruvians  were  highly  skilled  in  agriculture  and  in  some 
kinds  of  manufactures.  Ko  people  ever  had  a  more  ef 
ficient  system  of  industry.  This  created  their  wealth 
and  made  possible  their  great  public  works.  All  ac 
counts  of  the  country  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  agree 
in  the  statement  that  they  cultivated  the  soil  in  a  very 
admirable  way  and  with  remarkable  success,  using  aque 
ducts  for  irrigation,  and  employing  guano  as  one  of  their 
most  important  fertilizers.  Europeans  learned  from  them 
the  value  of  this  fertilizer,  and  its  name,  guano,  is  Peru 
vian.  The  remains  of  their  works  show  what  they  were 
as  builders.  Their  skill  in  cutting  stone  and  their  won 
derful  masonry  can  be  seen  and  admired  by  modern 
builders  in  what  is  left  of  their  aqueducts,  their  roads, 
their  temples,  and  their  other  great  edifices. 

They  had  great  proficiency  in  the  arts  of  spinning, 
weaving,  and  dyeing.  For  their  cloth  they  used  cotton 
and  the  wool  of  four  varieties  of  the  llama,  that  of  the 
vicuna  being  the  finest.  Some  of  their  cloth  had  inter- 
wroven  designs  and  ornaments  very  skillfully  executed. 
Many  of  their  fabrics  had  rare  excellence  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Spaniards.  Garcilasso  says, "  The  coverings  of  the 
beds  were  blankets  and  friezes  of  the  wool  of  the  vicuna, 
which  is  so  fine  and  so  much  prized  that,  among  other 
precious  things  from  that  land,  they  have  been  brought 
for  the  bed  of  Don  Philip  II."  Of  their  dyes,  this  ac 
count  is  given  in  the  work  of  Rivero  and  Yon  Tschudi : 

"  They  possessed  the  secret  of  fixing  the  dye  of  all 


248  Ancient  America. 

colors,  flesh-color,  yellow,  gray,  blue,  green,  black,  etc.,  so 
firmly  in  the  thread,  or  in  the  cloth  already  woven,  that 
they  never  faded  during  the  lapse  of  ages,  even  when 
exposed  to  the  air  or  buried  (in  tombs)  under  ground. 
Only  the  cotton  became  slightly  discolored,  while  the 
woolen  fabrics  preserved  their  primitive  lustre.  It  is  a 
circumstance  worth  remarking  that  chemical  analyses 
made  of  pieces  of  cloth  of  all  the  different  dyes  prove 
that  the  Peruvians  extracted  all  their  colors  from  the 
vegetable  and  none  from  the  mineral  kingdom.  In  fact, 
the  natives  of  the  Peruvian  mountains  now  use  plants 
unknown  to  Europeans,  producing  from  them  bright  and 
lasting  colors." 

They  had  great  skill  in  the  art  of  working  metals,  es 
pecially  gold  and  silver.  Besides  these  precious  metals, 
they  had  copper,  tin,  lead,  and  quicksilver.  Figures  65 
and  66  show  some  of  the  implements  used  by  the  Peru 
vians.  Iron  was  unknown  to  them  in  the  time  of  the 
Incas,  although  some  maintain  that  they  had  it  in  the 
previous  ages,  to  which  belong  the  ruins  at  Lake  Titi- 
caca.  Iron  ore  was  and  still  is  very  abundant  in  Peru. 
It  is  impossible  to  conceive  how  the  Peruvians  were  able 
to  cut  and  work  stone  in  such  a  masterly  way,  or  to  con 
struct  their  great  roads  and  aqueducts  without  the  use 
of  iron  tools.  Some  of  the  languages  of  the  country, 
and  perhaps  all,  had  names  for  iron  ;  in  official  Peruvian 
it  was  called  quillay,  and  in  the  old  Chilian  tongue  pa- 
nilic.  "  It  is  remarkable,"  observes  Molina,  "  that  iron, 
which  has  been  thought  unknown  to  the  ancient  Ameri 
cans,  has  particular  names  in  some  of  their  tongues."  It 


Ancient  Peru. 


249 


is  not  easy  to  understand 
why  they  had  names  for  this 
metal,  if  they  never  at  any 


Fig.  66. — Copper  Tweezers. 


Fig.  65. — Copper  Knives. 

time  had  knowledge  of  the 
metal  itself.  In  the  Mercurio 
Peruano,  tome  i.,  p.  201, 1791, 
it  is  stated  that,  anciently,  the 
Peruvian  sovereigns  "  worked 
magnificent  iron  mines  at  An- 
coriames,  on  the  west  shore  of 
Lake  Titicaca ;"  but  I  can  noi> 
give  the  evidence  used  in  support  of  this  statement. 

Their  goldsmiths  and  silversmiths  had  attained  very 
great  proficiency.  They  could  melt  the  metals  in  fur 
naces,  cast  them  in  moulds  made  of  clay  and  gypsum, 
hammer  their  work  with  remarkable  dexterity,  inlay  it, 
and  solder  it  with  great  perfection.  The  gold  and  silver 
work  of  these  artists  was  extremely  abundant  in  the 
country  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  but  Spanish  greed 
had  it  all  melted  for  coinage.  It  was  with  articles  of 
this  gold-work  that  the  Inca  Atahuallpa  filled  a  room  in 

L2 


250  Ancient  America. 

his  vain  endeavor  to  purchase  release  from  captivity. 
One  of  the  old  chroniclers  mentions  "statuary,  jars, 
vases,  and  every  species  of  vessels,  all  of  fine  gold." 
Describing  one  of  the  palaces,  he  said :  "  They  had  an 
artificial  garden,  the  soil  of  which  was  made  of  small 
pieces  of  fine  gold,  and  this  was  artificially  sowed  with 
different  kinds  of  maize  which  were  of  gold,  their  stems, 
leaves,  and  ears.  Besides  this,  they  had  more  than  twen 
ty  sheep  (llamas),  with  their  lambs,  attended  by  shep 
herds,  all  made  of  gold."  This  may  be  the  same  arti 
ficial  garden  which  was  mentioned  by  Francisco  Lopez 
de  Gomara,  who  places  it  on  "  an  island  near  Puna." 
Similar  gardens  of  gold  are  mentioned  by  others.  It  is 
believed  that  a  large  quantity  of  Peruvian  gold-work 
was  thrown  into  Lake  Titicaca  to  keep  it  from  the  Span 
ish  robbers.  In  a  description  of  one  lot  of  golden  arti 
cles  sent  to  Spain  in  1534  by  Pizarro,  there  is  mention 
of  "  four  llamas,  ten  statues  of  women  of  full  size,  and  a 
cistern  of  gold  so  curious  that  it  incited  the  wonder  of 
all." 

Nothing  is  more  constantly  mentioned  by  the  old 
Spanish  chroniclers  than  the  vast  abundance  of  gold  in 
Peru.  It  was  more  common  than  any  other  metal. 
Temples  and  palaces  were  covered  with  it,  and  it  was 
very  beautifully  wrought  into  ornaments,  temple  furni 
ture,  articles  for  household  use,  and  imitations  of  al 
most  every  object  in  nature.  In  the  course  of  twenty- 
five  years  after  the  Conquest,  the  Spaniards  sent  from 
Peru  to  Spain  more  than  four  hundred  million  ducats 
(S00,000,000  dollars)  worth  of  gold,  all  or  nearly  all  of 


Ancient  Peru. 


251 


it  having  been  taken  from  the  subjugated  Peruvians  as 
"  booty." 

Figures  67  and  G8  show  a  golden  and  a  silver  vase, 
reduced  from  the  actual 


Fig.  67.— Golden  Vase. 


Fig.  GS.-Silver  Vase. 


size.  Figures  69  and  70  represent  various  articles  of 
pottery ;  all  these  illustrations  are  copies  from  articles 
taken  from  old  Peruvian  tombs. 

The  most  perfectly  manufactured  articles  of  Peruvian 
pottery  were  used  in  the  tombs.  Some  of  those  made  for 
other  uses  were  very  curious.  A  considerable  number 
of  articles  made  for  common  use  have  been  preserved. 
Mariano  Rivero,  a  Peruvian,  says:  "At  this  day  there 
exist  in  many  houses  pitchers,  large  jars,  and  earthen 
pots  of  this  manufacture,  which  are  preferred  for  their 
solidity  to  those  manufactured  by  our  own  potters." 
The  ancient  Peruvians  were  inferior  to  the  Central 
Americans  in  the  arts  of  ornamentation  and  sculpture. 

Science  among  the  Peruvians  was  not  very  highly  de- 


25.2 


Ancient  America. 


veloped,  but  engineering  skill  of  some  kind  is  indicated 
by  the  great  roads  and  aqueducts.  Their  knowledge  of 
the  art  of  preparing  colors  and  certain  useful  medicines 
implied  a  study  of  plants.  Their  progress  in  astronomy 
was  not  equal  to  that  found  in  Central  America;  never- 


Ancient  Peru. 


253 


the!  ess,  they  had  an  ac 
curate  measure  of  the 
solar  year,  but,  unlike 
the  Central  Americans, 
they  divided  the  year 
into  twelve  months,  and 
they  used  mechanical 
contrivances  success 
fully  to  fix  the  times 
of  the  solstices  and  w 
equinoxes.  A  class  of  ® 
men  called  amautas  | 
was  trained  to  preserve  | 
and  teach  whatever  •* 
knowledge  existed  in  | 
the  country.  It  was  * 
their  business  to  un 
derstand  the  quippus, 
keep  in  memory  the 
historical  poems,  give 
attention  to  the  science 
and  practice  of  medi 
cine,  and  train  their 
pupils  in  knowledge. 
These  were  not  priests ;  they  were  the  "  learned  men"  of 
Peru,  and  the  government  allowed  them  every  facility 
for  study  and  for  communicating  instruction.  How 
much  they  knew  of  astronomy  it  is  not  easy  to  say. 
They  had  knowledge  of  some  of  the  planets,  and  it  is 
claimed  that  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  they  used 


254  Ancient  America. 

aids  to  eyesight  in  studying  the  heavens,  such  as  some 
suppose  were  used  by  our  Mound-Builders.  A  discovery 
made  in  Bolivia  a  few  years  since  is  cited  in  support  of 
this  belief.  It  is  the  figure  of  a  man  in  the  act  of  using 
a  tube  to  aid  vision,  which  was  taken  from  an  ancient 
tomb.  Mr.  David  Forbes,  an  English  chemist  and  geol 
ogist,  obtained  it  in  Bolivia,  and  carried  it  to  England  in 
1864.  William  Bollaert  describes  it  as  follows  in  a  pa 
per  read  to  the  London  Anthropological  Society : 

"  It  is  a  nude  figure,  of  silver,  two  inches  and  a  half 
in  height,  on  a  flat,  pointed  pedestal.  In  the  right  hand 
it  has  the  mask  of  a  human  face,  but  in  the  left  a  tube 
over  half  an  inch  in  length,  the  narrow  part  placed  to 
the  left  eye  in  a  diagonal  position,  as  if  observing  some 
celestial  object.  This  is  the  first  specimen  of  a  figure 
in  the  act  of  looking  through  a  hollow  tube  directed  to 
the  heavens  that  has  been  found  in  the  New  World.  We 
can  not  suppose  the  Peruvians  had  any  thing  that  more 
nearly  resembled  a  telescope.  It  was  found  in  a  cliulpa, 
or  ancient  Indian  tomb,  at  Caquingora,  near  Corocoro 
(lat.  17°  15'  S.,  and  long.  68°  35'  W.),  in  Bolivia."  He 
forgets  the  astronomical  monument  described  by  Captain 
Dupaix. 

The  art  of  writing  in  alphabetical  characters,  so  far  as 
appears,  was  unknown  to  the  Peruvians  in  the  time  of 
the  Incas.  No  Peruvian  books  existed  at  that  time,  and 
no  inscriptions  have  been  found  in  any  of  the  ruins. 
They  had  a  method  of  recording  events,  keeping  ac 
counts,  and  making  reports  to  the  government  by  means 
of  the  quippu.  This  was  made  of  cords  of  twisted 


Ancient  Peru.  255 

wool  fastened  to  a  base  prepared  for  the  purpose.  These 
cords  were  of  various  sizes  and  colors,  and  every  size 
and  color  had  its  meaning.  The  record  was  made  by 
means  of  an  elaborate  system  of  knots  and  artificial  in- 
tertwinings.  The  amautas  were  carefully  educated  to 
the  business  of  understanding  and  using  the  quippus^ 
and  "this  science  was  so  much  perfected  that  those 
skilled  in  it  attained  the  art  of  recording  historical 
events,  laws,  and  decrees,  so  as  to  transmit  to  their  de 
scendants  the  most  striking  events  of  the  empire;  thus 
the  quippus  could  supply  the  place  of  documents."  Each 
quvppu  was  a  book  full  of  information  for  those  who 
could  read  it. 

Among  the  amautas  memory  was  educated  to  retain 
and  transmit  to  posterity  songs,  historical  narratives,  and 
long  historical  poems.  It  is  said,  also,  that  tragedies  and 
comedies  were  composed  and  preserved  in  this  way,  and 
that  dramatic  performances  were  among  the  regular  en 
tertainments  encouraged  and  supported  by  the  Incas. 
Whether  the  art  of  writing  ever  existed  in  the  country 
can  not  now  be  determined.  Some  of  the  Peruvian 
tongues  had  names  for  paper;  the  people  knew  that  a 
kind  of  paper  or  parchment  could  be  made  of  plantain 
leaves,  and,  according  to  Montesinos,  writing  and  books 
were  common  in  the  older  times,  that  is  to  say,  in  ages 
long  previous  to  the  Incas.  He  explains  how  the  art 
was  lost,  as  I  shall  presently  show. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  a  kind  of  hieroglyphical 
writing  existed  in  some  of  the  Peruvian  communities, 
especially  among  the  Aymaraes.  Humboldt  mentions 


256  Ancient  America. 

books  of  hieroglyphical  writing  found  among  the  Panoes, 
on  the  River  Ucayali,  which  were  "  bundles  of  their  pa 
per  resembling  our  volumes  in  quarto."  A  Franciscan 
missionary  found  an  old  man  sitting  at  the  foot  of  a 
palm-tree  and  reading  one  of  these  books  to  several 
young  persons.  The  Franciscan  was  told  that  the  writ 
ing  "  contained  hidden  things  which  no  stranger  ought 
to  know."  It  was  seen  that  the  pages  of  the  book  were 
"covered  with  figures  of  men,  animals,  and  isolated  char 
acters,  deemed  hieroglvphical,  and  arranged  in  lines  with 
order  and  symmetry."  The  Panoes  said  these  books 
"  were  transmitted  to  them  by  their  ancestors,  and  had 
relation  to  wanderings  and  ancient  wars."  There  is  sim 
ilar  writing  on  a  prepared  llama  skin  found  among  other 
antiquities  on  a  peninsula  in  Lake  Titicaca,  which  is  now 
in  the  museum  at  La  Paz,  Bolivia.  It  appears  to  be  a 
record  of  atrocities  perpetrated  by  the  Spaniards  at  the 
time  of  the  Conquest,  and  shows  that  some  of  the  Ayma- 
raes  could  at  that  time  write  hieroglyphics. 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  257 


XI. 

PERUVIAN  ANCIENT  HISTORY. 

THK  Peruvians,  like  most  other  important  peoples  in 
all  ages,  had  mythical  wonder-stories  instead  of  authentic 
ancient  history  to  explain  the  origin  of  their  nation. 
These  were  told  in  traditions  and  legends  preserved  and 
transmitted  from  generation  to  generation  by  the  amau- 
tas.  If  they  were  also  recorded  in  secret  books  of  hiero- 
glyphical  writing,  such  as  those  found  among  the  Panoes 
on  the  Ucayali,  which  "  contained  hidden  things  that  no 
stranger  ought  to  know,"  satisfactory  evidence  of  the 
fact  has  never  been  brought  to  light.  In  addition  to 
these,  they  had  many  historical  traditions  of  much  more 
importance,  related  in  long  poems  and  preserved  in  the 
same  way ;  and  there  were  annals  and  national  docu 
ments  recorded  in  the  quippus. 

Some  of  the  Spanish  writers  on  Peru,  who  described 
what  they  saw  in  the  country  at  the  time  of  the  Con 
quest,  discussed  its  history.  If  they  had  used  the  proper 
sources  of  information  with  a  more  penetrating  and  com 
plete  investigation,  and  studied  the  subject  as  it  might 
have  been  studied  at  that  time,  their  historical  sketches 
would  now  have  great  value.  The  two  most  important 
works  written  at  this  time,  the  "  Relacion"  of  Sarmiento 
and  the  "Relaciones"  of  Polo  de  Ondegardo,  were  never 


258  Ancient  America. 

printed.  But  none  of  these  writers  sought  to  study  Pe 
ruvian  antiquity  beyond  the  period  of  the  Incas,  although 
some  of  them  (Acosta  for  instance)  inquired  sufficiently 
to  see  that  Manco  Capac  was  a  mythical  personage  pre 
fixed  to  the  dynastic  line  of  the  Incas  without  actually 
belonging  to  it.  This  limited  view  of  the  ancient  his 
tory,  which  was  inconsistent  with  what  could  be  seen  in 
the  antiquities  and  traditions  of  the  country,  was  gen 
erally  accepted,  because  nothing  more  could  be  known 
in  Europe,  and  its  influence  was  established  by  the  un 
due  importance  accorded  to  the  "  Commentaries  Reales'' 
of  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  published  in  1609. 


Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  the  son  of  a  distinguished  Span 
iard  of  the  same  name,  was  born  at  Cuzco  in  1540.  His 
mother,  named  Nusta,  was  a  niece  of  the  great  Inca 
Huayna  Capac,  and  granddaughter  of  his  no  less  emi 
nent  predecessor,  Tupac  Yupanqui.  The  intimate  blood 
relationship  which  connected  him  with  the  Incas  natu 
rally  drew  attention  to  his  wrork,  and,  with  more  haste 
than  reason,  was  treated  as  the  best  possible  qualification 
for  writing  Peruvian  history;  therefore  his  "Comrnen- 
tarios"  acquired  a  very  great  celebrity,  and  came  to  be 
regarded  as  the  highest  authority  on  all  questions  re 
lating  to  Peru  previous  to  the  Conquest.  The  work 
never  deserved  this  reputation,  although  it  was  not  with 
out  value  as  an  addition  to  what  had  been  written  on  the 
subject  by  Spaniards.  Garcilasso  was  not  well  qualified 
to  write  a  faithful  history  of  Peru  either  by  his  knowl- 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  259 

edge  or  by  the  temper  of  his  mind.  His  aim  was  to 
glorify  the  Incas  and  their  times,  and  much  of  his  work 
was  in  the  strain  of  tales  heard  in  childhood  from  his 
mother. 

The  "  Commentaries  Reales"  were  written  just  as  their 
author's  training  had  prepared  him  to  write  them.  He 
lived  in  Cuzco  without  education  until  he  was  nearly 
twenty  years  old,  his  intellectual  development  being  con 
fined  to  the  instruction  necessary  to  make  him  a  good 
Catholic.  He  then  went  to  Spain  and  never  returned  to 
Peru.  The  next  period  of  his  life  was  devoted  to  seek 
ing  distinction  in  the  Spanish  military  service;  but  polit 
ical  influence  was  against  him,  and  he  could  not  attain 
the  object  of  his  ambition.  He  finally  retired  to  Cor 
dova,  acquired  some  literary  culture,  and  resolved  to  win 
distinction  by  writing  a  history  of  his  native  country. 
His  materials  for  such  a  history,  in  addition  to  what 
could  be  learned  from  the  earlier  Spanish  wrriters,  con 
sisted  entirely  of  what  he  had  learned  of  his  mother  and 
his  early  Peruvian  associates  at  Cuzco,  and  of  such  ac 
quisitions  as  could  be  gained  by  means  of  correspond 
ence  with  his  acquaintances  in  Pern,  after  the  purpose 
to  write  a  history  wras  formed.  It  can  be  seen  readily 
that  Garcilasso's  history  written  in  this  wray  might  have 
a  certain  value,  while  it  could  not  be  safely  accepted  as 
an  authority.  The  first  part  of  his  work  was  published 
in  1609,  when  he  was  nearly  seventy  years  old. 

According  to  his  version  of  the  Peruvian  annals,  the 
rule  of  the  Incas  began  with  the  mythical  Manco  Capac, 
and  lasted  over  five  hundred  years  ;  and  this  version,  with 


260  Ancient  America. 

some  variations  in  estimates  of  the  time,  has  been  re 
peated  ever  since.  The  dynastic  line  of  the  Incas  thus 
determined  is  given  in  the  work  of  Rivero  and  Yon 
Tschudi  as  follows : 

1.  Manco-Capac,  mysterious  "  son  of  the  sun,"  who  be 
gan  to  reign  in  1021  A.D.,  and  died  in  1062,  having 
reigned  forty  years.  2.  Sinchi-Eocca,  who  reigned  thirty 
years,  from  1062  to  1091.  3.  Lloque-Yupanqui,  reigned 
thirty -five  years,  from  1091  to  1126.  4.  Mayta-Capac, 
thirty  years,  from  1126  to  1156.  5.  Capac-Yupanqui, 
forty-one  years,  from  1156  to  1197.  6.  Inca  Kocca,  fif 
ty-one  years,  from  1197  to  1249.  7.  Yahuar-Capac,  for 
ty  years,  from  1249  to  1289.  S.  Yiracocha,  fifty-one 
years,  from  1289  to  1340 ;  his  son  Inca  Urco  reigned 
after  him  eleven  days,  and  was  then  deposed  "  as  a  fool 
incapable  of  governing."  9.  Titu-Maneo-Capac-Pacha- 
cutec,  sixty  years,  from  1340  to  1400,  living,  says  tradi 
tion,  to  be  one  hundred  and  three  years  old.  10.  Yupan- 
qui,  thirty-nine  years,  from  1400  to  1439.  11.  Tupac- 
Yupanqui  (Garcilasso's  great-grandfather)  thirty -six 
years,  from  1439  to  1475.  12.  Huayna-Capac,"the  most 
glorious  of  the  Incas,"  fifty  years,  from  1475  to  1525. 
After  his  death  the  empire  was  divided  between  his  two 
sons  Huascar  and  Atahuallpa.  This  caused  a  civil  war, 
which  ended  with  the  death  of  Huascar  in  1532.  One 
year  later  Atahuallpa  was  himself  destroyed  by  Cortez. 

Manco-Capac,  here  set  down  as  the  first  Inca,  with  a 
marvelous  story  of  his  mysterious  origin  and  his  mirac 
ulous  powers  as  a  civilizer,  was  undoubtedly  borrowed 
from  traditions  of  the  origin  of  civilization  in  the  more 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  261 

ancient  times,  which  had  been  used  by  the  Incas  in  sup 
port  of  their  claim  to  direct  descent  from  the  sun.  In 
reality,  the  first  Inca  was  Rocca,  or  Sinchi-Rocca,  and 
several  of  the  early  Spanish  writers  were  sufficiently 
well  informed  to  see  this.  The  period  of  the  Incas  must 
have  been  less  than  five  hundred  years  if  their  dynasty 
consisted  of  no  more  than  twelve  or  thirteen  sovereigns. 
In  other  respects,  this  table  of  the  sovereigns  may  be 
substantially  correct,  for  there  is  a  general  agreement  in 
regard  to  the  names  and  the  order  of  succession,  al 
though  Montesinos  maintains  that  the  fifth  Inca  on  the 
list  was  borrowed  by  Garcilasso  from  traditions  of  a 
much  more  ancient  sovereign  who  was  greatly  cele 
brated  in  the  historical  poems,  or  confounded  with  him. 
The  period  of  the  Incas  was  very  distinct  in  Peruvian 
history,  but  it  is  now  understood  that  they  represent  only 
the  last  period  in  the  history  of  a  civilization  which  be 
gan  much  farther  back  in  the  past. 

FEKNANDO   MONTESINOS. 

The  only  Spanish  writer  who  really  studied  the  an 
cient  history  of  Peru  in  the  traditional  and  other  records 
of  the  country  was  Fernando  Muntesinos,  who  went 
there  about  a  century  after  the  Conquest.  He  was  sent 
from  Spain  on  service  which  took  him  to  every  part  of 
Peru,  and  gave  him  the  best  possible  opportunities  for 
investigation.  He  was  a  scholar  and  a  worker,  with  a 
strong  inclination  to  such  studies,  and,  during  two  peri 
ods  of  residence  in  the  country,  he  devoted  fifteen  years 
to  these  inquiries  with  unremitting  industry  and  great 


262  Ancient  America. 

success.  He  soon  learned  to  communicate  freely  with 
the  Peruvians  in  their  own  language ;  then  he  applied 
himself  to  collect  the  historical  poems,  narratives,  and  tra 
ditions.  He  succeeded  in  getting  assistance  from  many 
of  the  older  men  who  had  learned  of  the  amautas,  and 
especially  of  those  who  were  trained  to  read  the  quip- 
pus.  Nothing  was  omitted  which  could  aid  his  purpose. 
In  this  way  Montesinos  made  a  great  collection  of  what 
may  be  called  the  old  Peruvian  documents,  and  gained 
a  vast  amount  of  information  which  no  other  writer  had 
used  or  even  sought  to  acquire. 

The  materials  collected  were  more  important  than  is 
at  once  understood  by  those  accustomed  to  depend  whol 
ly  on  writing  and  printing  for  the  preservation  of  litera 
ture,  because  they  can  not  easily  realize  to  what  extent 
the  faculty  of  memory  may  be  sharpened  and  developed 
by  a  class  of  men  devoted  to  this  culture  in  communities 
where  such  mechanical  aids  do  not  exist.  It  is  known 
that  long  poems,  stories,  and  historical  narratives  have 
been  preserved  by  unlettered  peoples  much  below  the 
civilized  condition  of  the  Peruvians.  Long  poems,  ex 
tending  to  three  and  four  hundred  lines,  were  retained 
by  memory,  and  transmitted  from  generation  to  genera 
tion  among  the  Sandwich  Islanders.  Many  scholars 
have  believed  that  all  the  early  literature  of  Greece,  in 
cluding  the  Iliad,  the  Odyssey,  and  all  other  "  poems  of 
the  Cycle,"  was  preserved  in  this  way  by  the  Rhapsodists 
for  centuries,  down  to  the  time  of  Peisistratus,  and  then 
for  the  first  time  reduced  to  writing.  This  shows  at 
least  what  they  have  believed  was  possible.  In  Max  Mill- 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  263 

ler's  "History  of  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature"  it  is  ar 
gued  strongly  that  the  Yedas  were  not  written  at  first, 
but  were  transmitted  orally,  being  learned  by  heart  in 
the  great  religious  schools  of  the  Indo-Aryans  as  an  in 
dispensable  part  of  education.  This  is  likely  to  be  true, 
whether  we  assume  that  the  Indo-Aryans  had  or  had  not 
the  art  of  writing ;  for,  in  the  Yaidic  age,  the  divine 
songs  of  the  Yeda  were  so  intimately  associated  with  the 
mysteries  of  their  religion  that  they  may  have  been  held 
too  sacred  to  be  made  common  by  written  characters. 

Therefore  it  is  no  wise  incredible,  nor  even  surprising, 
that  a  considerable  amount  of  literature  existed  in  Peru 
without  the  aid  of  writing.  On  the  contrary,  it  would 
be  surprising  if  they  had  failed  to  do  what  has  been 
done  by  every  other  people  in  like  circumstances.  The 
schools  of  the  amautas  were  national  institutions  spe 
cially  set  apart  for  the  business  of  preserving  and  in 
creasing  knowledge,  teaching,  and  literary  work  of  every 
kind.  In  a  country  where  civilization  was  so  much  ad 
vanced  in  many  respects,  they  could  not  have  been  en 
tirely  barren.  Those  who  criticise  Montesinos  admit 
that  "  his  advantages  were  great,"  that  "  no  one  equaled 
him  in  archseological  knowledge  of  Peru,"  and  that  "  he 
became  acquainted  with  original  instruments  which  he 
occasionally  transferred  to  his  own  pages,  and  which  it 
would  now  be  difficult  to  meet  elsewhere."  The  results 
of  his  investigation  are  embodied  in  a  work  entitled 
"  Memorias  Antiguas  Historiales  del  Peru."  This,  with 
another  work  on  the  Conquest  entitled  "Annales,"  re 
mained  in  manuscript  at  Madrid  until  the  "  Memorias" 


264  Ancient  America. 

was  translated  into  French  by  M.  Ternaux-Compans,  and 
printed  in  his  collection  of  original  documents  relating 
to  the  discovery  and  exploration  of  America. 

HIS    SCHEME    OF    PERUVIAN   HISTORY. 

According  to  Montesinos,  there  were  three  distinct  pe 
riods  in  the  history  of  Peru.  First,  there  was  a  period 
which  began  with  the  origin  of  civilization,  and  lasted 
until  the  first  or  second  century  of  the  Christian  era. 
Second,  there  was  a  period  of  disintegration,  decline,  and 
disorder,  introduced  by  successful  invasions  from  the 
east  and  southeast,  during  which  the  country  was  broken 
up  into  small  states,  and  many  of  the  arts  of  civilization 
were  lost ;  this  period  lasted  more  than  a  thousand  years. 
Third  and  last  came  the  period  of  the  Incas,  who  revived 
civilization  and  restored  the  empire.  He  discards  the 
wonder-stories  told  of  Manco-Capac  and  Mama  Oello, 
and  gives  the  Peruvian  nation  a  beginning  which  is,  at 
least,  not  incredible.  It  was  originated,  he  says,  by  a 
people  led  by  four  brothers,  who  settled  in  the  Valley  of 
Cuzco,  and  developed  civilization  there  in  a  very  human 
way.  The  youngest  of  these  brothers  assumed  supreme 
authority,  and  became  the  first  of  a  long  line  of  sover 
eigns. 

Montesinos  gives  a  list  of  sixty-four  sovereigns  who 
reigned  in  the  first  period.  The  first  was  Puhua  Manco, 
or  Ayar-Uchu-Topa,  the  youngest  of  the  four  brothers, 
whose  power  was  increased  by  the  willing  submission 
of  "  neighboring  nations."  His  successor,  called  Manco- 
Capac,  is  described  as  a  remarkable  character;  "adja- 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  265 

cent  nations  dreaded  his  power,"  and  in  his  time  the 
kingdom  was  much  increased.  Next  came  Huainaevi- 
Pishua,  and  "  during  his  reign  was  known  the  use  of  let 
ters,  and  the  amautas  taught  astrology  and  the  art  of 
writing  on  leaves  of  the  plantain  tree."  Sinchi-Cozque 
won  victories,  and  "adorned  and  fortified  the  city  of 
Cuzco."  Inti-Capac-Yupanqui,  another  remarkable  char 
acter,  divided  the  kingdom  into  -districts  and  subdis- 
tricts,  introduced  a  complete  civil  organization,  insti 
tuted  the  solar  year  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days, 
and  established  the  system  of  couriers.  Manco-Capac 
II.  "  made  great  roads  from  Cuzco  to  the  provinces." 
These  are  the  first  six  rulers  named  on  the  list. 

In  the  next  thirteen  reigns  nothing  special  is  noted 
save  attention  to  civil  affairs,  occasional  conquests,  and 
"  a  great  plague."  The  twentieth  sovereign,  called  Hu- 
ascar-Titupac, "  gave  all  the  provinces  new  governors  of 
royal  blood,  and  introduced  in  the  army  a  cuirass  made 
of  cotton  and  copper."  The  twenty-first,  Manco-Capac- 
Amauta, "  being  addicted  to  astronomy,  convened  a  sci 
entific  council,  which  agreed  that  the  sun  was  at  a  great 
er  distance  from  the  earth  than  the  moon,  and  that  they 
followed  different  courses."  In  the  next  twelve  reigns, 
wars,  conquests,  and  some  indications  of  religious  con 
troversy  are  noted.  The  thirty-fourth  ruler,  called  Ayay- 
Manco, "  assembled  the  amautas  in  Cuzco  to  reform  the 
calendar,  and  it  was  Decided  that  the  year  should  be  di 
vided  into  months  of  thirty  days,  and  weeks  of  ten  days, 
calling  the  five  days  at  the  end  of  the  year  a  small  week; 
they  also  collected  the  years  into  decades  or  groups  of 

M 


266  Ancient  America. 

tens,  and  determined  that  each  group  of  ten  decades 
should  form  a  sun." 

Among  the  next  twenty-nine  sovereigns,  Capac-Raymi- 
Amauta,  the  thirty-eighth  of  the  line,  and  Yahuar-IIu- 
quiz,  the  fifty-first,  were  "celebrated  for  astronomical 
knowledge,"  and  the  latter  "  intercalated  a  year  at  the 
end  of  four  centuries."  Manco-Capac  III.,  the  sixtieth 
sovereign  of  this  line,  is  supposed  to  have  reigned  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and  in  his  time  "  Peru 
had  reached  her  greatest  elevation  and  extension."  The 
next  three  reigns  covered  thirty-two  years,  it  is  said. 
Then  came  Titu-Yupanqui-Pachacuti,  the  sixty-fourth 
and  last  sovereign  of  the  old  kingdom,  who  was  killed 
in  battle  with  a  horde  of  invaders  who  came  from  the 
east  and  southeast  across  the  Andes.  His  death  threw 
the  kingdom  into  confusion.  There  wras  rebellion  as 
well  as  invasion,  by  which  it  was  broken  up  into  small 
states.  The  account  of  what  happened  says:  "Many 
ambitious  ones,  taking  advantage  of  the  new  king's 
youth,  denied  him  obedience,  drew  away  from  him  the 
people,  and  usurped  several  provinces.  Those  who  re 
mained  faithful  to  the  heir  of  Titu-Yupanqui  conducted 
him  to  Tambotoco,  whose  inhabitants  offered  him  obedi 
ence.  From  this  it  happened  that  this  monarch  took 
the  title  of  King  of  Tambotoco." 

During  the  next  twenty-six  reigns  the  sway  of  the 
old  royal  house  was  confined  to  this  little  state.  These 
twenty-six  successors  of  the  old  sovereigns  were  merely 
kings  of  Tambotoco.  The  country,  overrun  by  rude  in 
vaders,  torn  by  civil  war,  and  harried  by  "  many  siinul- 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  267 

taneous  tyrants,"  became  semi-barbarous ;  "  all  was  found 
in  great  confusion ;  life  and  personal  safety  were  endan 
gered,  and  civil  disturbances  caused  an  entire  loss  of  the 
use  of  letters."  The  art  of  writing  seems  to  have  been 
mixed  up  with  the  issues  of  a  religious  controversy  in 
the  time  of  the  old  kingdom.  It  wras  proscribed  now, 
even  in  the  little  state  of  Tambotoco,  for  we  read  that 
the  fourteenth  of  its  twenty-six  rulers  "  prohibited,  un 
der  the  severest  penalties,  the  use  of  quellca  for  writing, 
and  forbade,  also,  the  invention  of  letters.  Quellca  was 
a  kind  of  parchment  made  of  plantain  leaves."  It  is 
added  that  an  amauta  who  sought  to  restore  the  art  of 
writing  was  put  to  death.  This  period  of  decline,  disor 
der,  and  disintegration,  which  covered  the  "  dark  ages" 
of  Peru,  lasted  until  the  rise  of  the  Incas  brought  better 
times  and  reunited  the  country. 

Rocca,  called  Inca-Rocca,  was  the  first  of  the  Incas. 
He  was  connected  with  the  old  royal  family,  but  did  not 
stand  in  the  direct  line  of  succession.  The  story  of  his 
rise  to  power  is  told  as  follows :  "  A  princess  of  royal 
blood,  named  Mama-Ciboca,  contrived,  by  artifice  and 
intrigue,  to  raise  to  the  throne  her  son  called  Rocca,  a 
youth  of  twenty  years,  and  so  handsome  and  valiant 
that  his  admirers  called  him  Inca,  which  means  lord. 
This  title  of  Inca  began  with  him,  and  was  adopted  by 
all  his  successors."  He  appears  to  have  had  great  qual 
ities  as  a  ruler.  Not  much  time  passed  before  he  se 
cured  possession  of  Cuzco,  made  war  successfully  against 
the  neighboring  princes,  and  greatly  extended  his  domin 
ions.  Under  his  successors,  the  empire  thus  begun  con- 


268  Ancient  America. 

tinned  to  grow,  until  it  was  extended  from  Quito  to 
Chili,  and  became  the  Peruvian  empire  which  the  Span 
iards  robbed  and  destroyed. 

PROBABILITIES. 

It  has  been  the  fashion  to  depreciate  Montesinos,  but 
I  find  it  impossible  to  discover  the  reasons  by  which  this 
depreciation  can  be  justified.  It  is  alleged  that  lie  uses 
fanciful  hypotheses  to  explain  Peru.  The  reply  to  this 
seems  to  me  conclusive.  In  the  first  place,  he  is,  in  this 
respect,  like  all  other  writers  of  his  time.  That  wras  an 
age  of  fanciful  theories.  Montesinos  is  certainly  no 
worse  than  others  in  this  respect,  while  he  has  the  merit 
of  being  somewhat  more  original.  He  brought  the  Pe 
ruvian  civilization  from  Armenia,  and  argued  that  Peru 
was  Solomon's  Ophir.  Undue  importance  has  been  ac 
corded  to  several  of  the  old  Spanish  chroniclers,  whose 
works  contain  suggestions  and  fancies  much  more  irra 
tional.  In  the  second  place,  his  theories  have  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  his  facts,  by  which  they  are  some 
times  contradicted.  He  found  in  Peru  materials  for  the 
scheme  of  its  ancient  history,  which  he  sets  forth.  Read 
ers  will  form  their  own  estimates  of  its  value,  but  no 
reasonable  critic  will  confound  this  part  of  his  work  with 
his  fanciful  explanations,  which  are  sometimes  incon 
sistent  with  it.  For  instance,  his  theory  assumes  that  the 
first  monarch  of  the  old  kingdom  began  his  reign  as  far 
back  in  the  past  as-  the  year  2500  B.C.  But  he  reports 
only  sixty-four  rulers  of  that  old  kingdom.  Now,  if 
there  were  so  many  as  sixty-four,  and  if  we  allow  an  av- 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  269 

erage  of  twenty  years  to  each  reign  (which  is  sufficient), 
we  can  not  carry  back  the  beginning  of  that  first  reign 
to  the  year  1200  B.C. 

There  is  another  objection,  which  must  be  stated  in 
the  words  of  one  of  the  critics  who  have  urged  it: 
"  Montesinos  treats  the  ancient  history  of  Peru  in  a  mode 
so  original  and  distinct  from  all  others  that  we  can  per 
ceive  it  to  be  a  production  alike  novel  and  unknown." 
If  this  means  any  tiling,  it  means  that  it  was  highly  im 
proper  for  Montesinos  to  find  in  Peru  what  was  "  un 
known"  to  poorly -informed  and  superficial  Spanish  writ 
ers,  who  had  already  been  accepted  as  "  authorities."  It 
would  have  been  singular  if  his  careful  investigation, 
continued  through  fifteen  years,  had  not  given  him  a 
great  amount  of  information  which  others  had  never 
taken  pains  to  acquire.  His  treatment  of  the  subject 
was  "  original  and  distinct  from  all  others,"  because  he 
knew  what  other  writers  did  not  know.  His  informa 
tion  did  not  allow  him  to  repeat  the  marvelous  story  of 
Manco-Capac  and  Mama  Oello,  nor  to  confine  Peruvian 
history  to  the  time  of  the  Incas.  But  when  the  result 
of  his  inquiries  was  announced  in  Europe,  Garcilasso 
and  others  regulated  the  fashion  of  Peruvian  studies, 
and  the  influence  of  their  limited  and  superficial  knowl 
edge  of  the  subject  has  been  felt  ever  since. 

The  curious  theories  of  Montesinos  may  be  brushed 
aside  as  rubbish,  or  be  studied  with  other  vagaries  of  that 
age  in  order  to  understand  its  difference  from  ours ;  but 
whoever  undertakes  to  criticise  his  facts  needs  to  be  his 
equal  in  knowledge  of  Peru.  His  works,  however,  tell 


270  Ancient  America. 

us  all  that  can  ever  be  known  of  Peruvian  ancient  his 
tory,  for  the  facilities  for  investigation  which  existed  in 
his  time  are  no  longer  possible.  It  may,  however,  be 
useful  to  consider  that  the  main  fact  in  his  report  on  the 
subject  is  no  more  "  original  and  distinct"  than  the  testi 
mony  of  the  monuments  around  Lake  Titicaca.  The 
significance  of  this  testimony  is  now  generally  admitted. 
There  was  a  period  in  the  history  of  Peruvian  civiliza 
tion  much  earlier  than  that  of  the  Incas,  a  period  still 
represented  by  these  old  monuments  which,  so  far  as  re 
lates  to  this  point,  are  as  "novel"  and  "  original"  as  Mon- 
tesinos  himself. 

That  the  civilization  found  in  the  country  was  much 
older  than  the  Incas  can  be  seen  in  what  we  know  of 
their  history.  Their  empire  had  grown  to  be  what  Pi- 
zarro  found  it  by  subjugating  and  absorbing  a  considera 
ble  number  of  small  states,  which  had  existed  as  civil 
ized  states  before  their  time.  The  conquest  of  Quito, 
which  was  not  inferior  to  the  Valley  of  Cuzco  in  civili 
zation,  had  just  been  completed  when  the  Spaniards  ar 
rived.  The  Chimus,  subjugated  a  few  years  earlier,  are 
described  as  even  more  advanced  in  civilization  than  any 
other  Peruvian  community.  The  small  states  thus  ab 
sorbed  by  Peru  were  much  alike  in  manners,  customs, 
manufactures,  methods  of  building,  and  general  culture. 
It  is  manifest  that  their  civilization  had  a  common  ori 
gin,  and  that  to  find  its  origin  we  must  go  back  into  the 
past  far  beyond  Inca-Rocco,  the  first  of  his  line,  who  be 
gan  the  work  of  uniting  them  under  one  government. 

Moreover,  there  were  civilized  communities  in  that 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  271 

part  of  the  continent  which  the  Incas  had  not  subju 
gated,  such  as  the  Muyscas  on  the  table-land  of  Bogota, 
north  of  Quito,  who  had  a  remarkable  civil  and  religious 
organization,  a  temple  of  the  sun  built  with  stone  col 
umns,  a  regular  system  of  computing  time,  a  peculiar 
calendar,  and  who  used  small  circular  gold  plates  as 
coin.  They  were  described  by  Humboldt. 

The  condition  of  the  people  composing  the  Peruvian 
empire  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  bore  witness  to  an 
ancient  history  something  like  that  reported  by  Montesi- 
nos.  There  were  indications  that  the  country  had  un 
dergone  important  revolutionary  changes  before  this  em 
pire  was  established.  The  Peruvians  at  that  time  were 
not  all  one  people.  The  political  union  was  complete, 
but  there  were  differences  of  speech,  and,  to  some  extent, 
of  physical  characteristics.  Three  numerous  and  impor 
tant  branches  of  the  population  were  known  as  Ayma- 
raes,  Chinchas,  and  Huancas.  They  used  different  tongues; 
although  the  Quichua  dialect,  spoken  by  the  Incas,  and 
doubtless  a  dialect  of  the  Aymaraes,  to  wiiom  the  Incas 
belonged,  was  the  official  language  in  every  part  of  the 
empire.  There  was  a  separated  and  fragmentary  condi 
tion  of  the  communities  with  respect  to  their  unlike 
characteristics,  which  implied  something  different  from 
a  quiet  and  uniform  political  history.  These  differences 
and  peculiarities  suggest  that  there  was  a  period  when 
Peru,  after  an  important  career  of  civilization  and  em 
pire,  was  subjected  to  great  political  changes  brought 
about  by  invasion  and  revolution,  by  which  the  nation 
was  for  a  long  time  broken  up  into  separate  states. 


272  Ancient  America. 

Here,  as  in  Mexico  and  Central  America,  there  was  in 
the  traditions  frequent  mention  of  strangers  or  foreign 
ers  who  came  by  sea  to  the  Pacific  coast  and  held  inter 
course  with  the  people ;  but  this  wras  in  the  time  of  the 
old  kingdom.  As  the  Malays  and  other  island  people 
under  their  influence  formerly  traversed  the  Pacific,  this 
is  not  improbable.  Some  have  assumed  that  the  Peru 
vians  had  no  communication  with  the  Mexicans  and  Cen 
tral  Americans,  and  that  the  two  peoples  were  unknown 
to  each  other.  This,  however,  seems  to  be  contradicted 
by  the  fact  that  an  accurate  knowledge  of  Peru  was 
found  among  the  people  inhabiting  the  Isthmus  and  the 
region  north  of  it.  The  Spaniards  heard  of  Peru  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  of  South  America,  but  on  the  Isthmus 
Balboa  gained  clear  information  in  regard  to  that  coun 
try  from  natives  who  had  evidently  seen  it.  To  what 
extent  there  was  intercourse  between  the  two  civilized 
portions  of  the  continent  is  unknown.  They  had  vessels 
quite  as  good  as  most  of  those  constructed  at  Panama  by 
the  Spanish  hunters  for  Peru,  such  as  the  balsas  of  the 
Peruvians  and  the  "  shallop"  of  the  Mayas  seen  by  Co 
lumbus,  which  made  communication  possible  up  and 
down  the  coast;  but  whether  regular  intercourse  be 
tween  them  was  ever  established,  and  every  thing  else 
relating  to  this  matter,  must  necessarily  be  left  to  a  cal 
culation  of  probabilities. 

CONCLUSION. 

If,  as  seems  most  likely,  there  was  in  South  America 
an  ancient  development  of  civilized  human  life,  out  of 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  273 

which  arose  the  civilizations  found  in  Peru  and  Central 
America,  its  antiquity  was  much  greater  than  can  be 
comprehended  by  the  current  chronologies.  This,  how 
ever,  can  not  make  it  improbable,  for  these  chronologies 
are  really  no  more  reasonable  than  the  monkish  fancies 
used  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  to  explain 
these  civilizations.  We  find  the  hagiologists  very  ab 
surd,  but  the  condition  of  mind  which  made  them  possi 
ble  is  closely  akin  to  that  which  moves  some  men  in  our 
time  to  deny  or  limit  the  past,  and  reject  the  results  of 
any  investigation  which  tend  to  enlarge  it.  Rational 
inquiry  constantly  forces  upon  us  the  suggestion  that 
there  was  more  in  the  unwritten  history  of  the  human 
race  than  our  inherited  modes  of  thinking  have  allowed 
us  to  suppose,  and  that  the  beginning  of  civilization  is 
far  more  ancient  than  our  long  accepted  theories  of  an 
tiquity  are  able  to  admit. 

What  may  be  discovered  in  South  America  by  a  more 
complete  geological  and  palseontological  investigation  it 
is  not  now  possible  to  say.  Professor  Orton,  in  his  re 
cent  book, "  The  Andes  and  the  Amazon,"  far  exceeds 
Montesinos  in  his  estimate  of  the  antiquity  of  Peruvian 
civilization.  He  says  on  this  point : 

"  Geology  and  archaeology  are  combining  to  prove 
that  Sorato  and  Chimborazo  have  looked  down  upon  a 
civilization  far  more  ancient  than  that  of  the  Incas,  and 
perhaps  coeval  with  the  flint-flakes  of  Cornwall  and  the 
shell-mounds  of  Denmark.  On  the  shores  of  Lake  Titi- 
caca  are  extensive  ruins  which  antedate  the  advent  of 
Manco-Capac,  and  may  be  as  venerable  as  the  lake-dwell' 

M2 


274  Ancient  America. 

ings  of  Geneva.     Wilson  lias  traced  six  terraces  in  going 

O  *  O  O 

up  from  the  sea  through  the  province  of  Esmeraldas  to 
ward  Quito,  and  underneath  the  living  forest,  which  is 
older  than  the  Spanish  invasion,  many  gold,  copper,  and 
stone  vestiges  of  a  lost  population  were  found.  In  all 
cases  these  relics  are  situated  below  the  high-tide  mark, 
in  a  bed  of  marine  sediment,  from  which  he  infers  that 
this  part  of  the  country  formerly  stood  higher  above  the 
sea.  If  this  be  true,  vast  must  be  the  antiquity  of  these 
remains,  for  the  upheaval  and  subsidence  of  the  coast  is 
exceedingly  slow." — P.  109. 

This  refers  to  discoveries  made  on  the  coast  of  Ecua 
dor  in  1860,  by  James  S.  Wilson,  Esq.  At  various  points 
along  this  coast  he  found  "  ancient  or  fossil  pottery,  ves 
sels,  images,"  and  other  manufactured  articles,  all  finely 
wrought.  Some  of  these  articles  wrere  made  of  gold. 
The  most  remarkable  fact  connected  with  them  is  that 
they  were  taken  from  "  a  stratum  of  ancient  surface 
earth"  which  was  covered  with  a  marine  deposit  six  feet 
thick.  The  geological  formation  where  these  remains 
were  found  is  reported  to  be  "  as  old  as  the  drift  strata 
of  Europe,"  and  "identical  with  that  of  Guayaquil  in 
which  bones  of  the  mastodon  are  met  with."  The  an 
cient  surface  earth  or  vegetable  mould,  with  its  pottery, 
gold-work,  and  other  relics  of  civilized  human  life,  was, 
therefore,  below  the  sea  when  that  marine  deposit  was 
spread  over  it.  This  land,  after  being  occupied  by  men, 
bad  subsided  and  settled  below  the  ocean,  remained  there 
long  enough  to  accumulate  the  marine  deposit,  and  again 
been  elevated  to  its  former  position  above  the  sea  level. 


Peruvian  Ancient  History.  275 

Since  tins  elevation,  forests  have  been  established  over 
it  which  are  older  than  the  Spanish  Conquest,  and  now 
it  is  once  more  subsiding.  In  1862,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Royal  Geological  Society,  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  spoke 
of  these  discoveries  as  follows : 

"  The  discoveries  Mr.  Wilson  has  made  of  the  exist 
ence  of  the  works  of  man  in  a  stratum  of  mould  beneath 
the  sea  level,  and  covered  by  several  feet  of  clay,  the 
phenomenon  being  persistent  for  sixty  miles,  are  of  the 
highest  interest  to  physical  geographers  and  geologists. 
The  facts  seem  to  demonstrate  that,  within  the  human 
period,  the  lands  on  the  west  coast  of  Equatorial  Amer 
ica  were  depressed  and  submerged,  and  that  after  the 
accumulation  of  marine  clays  above  the  terrestrial  relics 
the  whole  coast  was  elevated  to  its  present  position." 

Assuming  the  facts  to  be  as  Mr.  Wilson  reports  (and 
they  have  not  been  called  in  question),  it  follows  that 
there  was  human  civilization  to  a  certain  extent  in  South 
America  at  the  time  of  the  older  stone  age  of  Western 
Europe.  The  oldest  Peruvian  date  of  Montesinos  is 
quite  modern  compared  with  this.  The  fact  may  be 
considered  in  connection  with  another  mentioned  in  the 
section  on  American  Ethnology,  namely,  that  the  most 
ancient  fauna  on  this  continent,  man  probably  included, 
is  that  of  South  America.  But,  without  regard  to  what 
may  be  signified  by  these  discoveries  of  Mr. Wilson,  there 
is  good  reason  for  believing  that  the  Peruvian  civiliza 
tion  was  much  more  ancient  than  it  has  been  the  fashion 
to  admit. 

Peru  would  now  be  a  very  different  country  if  the 


276  Ancient  America. 

Spaniards  had  been  sufficiently  controlled  by  Christian 
ity  and  civilization  to  treat  the  Peruvians  justly,  and  seek 
nothing  more  than  friendly  intercourse  with  them.  But 
they  went  there  as  greedy  buccaneers,  unscrupulous  rob 
bers,  and  brought  every  thing  to  ruin.  At  no  time  since 
the  Spanish  Conquest  has  the  country  been  as  orderly, 
as  prosperous,  or  as  populous  as  they  found  it.  It  has 
fallen  to  a  much  lower  condition.  Industry  and  thrift 
have  been  supplanted  by  laziness  and  beggarly  poverty. 
Ignorance  and  incapacity  have  taken  the  place  of  that 
intelligence  and  enterprise  which  enabled  the  old  Peru 
vians  to  maintain  their  remarkable  system  of  agricul 
ture,  complete  their  great  works,  and  made  them  so  in 
dustrious  and  skillful  in  their  manufactures.  The  re 
gion  covered  by  the  Peruvian  empire  has  not  half  as 
many  people  now  as  it  had  in  the  time  of  the  Incas.  Is 
it  possible  to  imagine  the  present  inhabitants  of  Ecua 
dor,  Peru,  and  Bolivia  cultivating  their  soil  with  intelli 
gent  industry,  building  aqueducts  five  hundred  miles 
long,  and  constructing  magnificently  paved  roads  through 
the  rocks  and  across  the  ravines  of  the  Andes,  from  Qui 
to  to  Chili  ?  One  of  the  scholars  connected  with  the  sci-r 
entific  expedition  which  visited  South  America  in  1867, 
describing  the  ancient  greatness  and  present  inferior 
condition  of  Quito,  exclaims, "  May  the  future  bring  it 
days  equal  to  those  when  it  was  called  the  '  City  of  the 
Incas !' "  He  might  appropriately  utter  a  similar  wish 
for  the  whole  country, 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


A. 

THE  NORTHMEN  IN  AMERICA. 

IT  is  generally  known,  I  suppose,  that  original  manuscript  records  of 
Norse  voyages  to  this  continent  have  been  carefully  preserved  in  Iceland, 
and  that  they  were  first  published  at  Copenhagen  in  1837,  with  a  Danish 
and  a  Latin  translation.  These  narratives  are  plain,  straightforward, 
business-like  accounts  of  actual  voyages  made  by  the  Northmen,  in  the 
tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  to  Greenland,  Newfoundland,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island.  Within  the  whole 
range  of  the  literature  of  discovery  and  adventure  no  volumes  can  be  found 
which  have  more  abundant  internal  evidence  of  authenticity.  It  always 
happens,  when  something  important  is  unexpectedly  added  to  our  knowl 
edge  of  the  past,  that  somebody  will  blindly  disbelieve.  Dugald  Stewart 
could  see  nothing  but  "frauds  of  arch-forgers"  in  what  was  added  to  our 
knowledge  of  ancient  India  when  the  Sanskrit  language  and  literature  were 
discovered.  In  the  same  way,  here  and  there  a  doubter  has  hesitated  to 
accept  the  fact  communicated  by  these  Norse  records ;  but,  with  the  evi 
dence  before  us,  we  may  as  reasonably  doubt  any  unquestioned  fact  of  his 
tory  which  depends  on  similar  testimony. 

Any  account  of  these  voyages  should  be  prefaced  by  some  notice  of  Ice 
land.  Look  on  a  map  at  the  position  of  Iceland,  and  you  will  see  at  once 
that  it  should  not  be  classed  as  a  European  island.  It  belongs  to  North 
America.  It  was,  in  fact,  unknown  to  modern  Europe  until  the  year  8G1 
A.D.,  when  it  was  discovered  by  Nadodd,  a  Norse  rover.  There  is  some 
reason  to  believe  the  Irish  had  previously  sailed  to  this  island,  but  no  set 
tlement  was  established  in  it  previous  to  the  year  875,  when  it  was  occu 
pied  by  a  colony  of  Norwegians  under  a  chief  named  Ingolf.  Owing  to 
civil  troubles  in  Norway,  he  was  soon  followed  by  many  of  the  most  intel 
ligent,  wealthy,  and  honorable  of  his  countrymen. 

Thus  Iceland,  away  in  the  Northern  Ocean,  became  a  place  of  great  in 
terest.  In  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  the  Icelanders  had  become 


280  Ancient  America. 

eminent  among  the  Norse  communities  for  intellectual  culture  and  acconv 
plishment.  They  were  far  superior  to  their  countrymen  in  Norway.  To 
them  we  are  indebted  for  the  existing  records  of  Scandinavian  mythology. 
They  were  daring  and  adventurous  navigators,  and,  when  we  consider  how 
near  Iceland  is  to  America,  it  should  not  surprise  us  to  hear  that  they 
found  the  American  continent ;  on  the  contrary,  it  would  have  been  sur 
prising  if  they  had  failed  to  find  it.  They  first  discovered  Greenland,  and 
in  982  established  a  colony  there.  Afterward,  in  the  course  of  many  voy 
ages,  they  explored  the  coast  of  America  much  farther  south. 

Narratives  of  some  of  these  voyages  were  carefully  written  and  pre 
served.  There  are  two  principal  records.  One  is  entitled  "An  Account 
of  Eirek  the  Red  and  Greenland."  This  appears  to  have  been  written  in 
Greenland,  where  Eirek  settled,  and  where  the  Northmen  had  a  colony 
consisting  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  settlements.  The  other  record  is  an 
"Account  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefne."  This  was  written  in  Iceland  by  a  bish 
op,  one  of  Thorfinn's  immediate  descendants.  The  Norse  narrative  intro 
duces  Eirek's  voyage  of  discovery  as  follows : 

"There  was  a  man  of  noble  family,  whose  name  was  Thorvald.  He 
and  his  son  Eirek,  surnamed  the  Red,  were  obliged  to  flee  from  Jadir  (in 
the  southwest  part  of  Norway)  because,  in  some  feud  that  arose,  they  com 
mitted  a  homicide.  They  went  to  Iceland,  which,  at  that  time,  was  thor 
oughly  colonized. " 

Thorvald  died  soon  after  reaching  Iceland,  but  Eirek  inherited  his  rest 
less  spirit.  The  record  says  he  was  at  length  involved  in  another  feud  in 
Iceland.  Eirek,  being  unjustly  treated  by  some  of  his  neighbors,  commit 
ted  another  homicide,  and  the  narrative  relates  what  followed:  "  Having 
been  condemned  by  the  court,  he  resolved  to  leave  Iceland.  His  vessel 
being  prepared,  and  every  thing  ready,  Eirek's  partisans  in  the  quarrel  ac 
companied  him  some  distance.  He  told  them  he  had  determined  to  quit 
Iceland  and  settle  somewhere  else,  adding  that  he  was  going  in  search  of 
the  land  Gunniborn  had  seen  when  driven  by  a  storm  into  the  Western 
Ocean,  and  promising  to  revisit  them  if  his  search  should  be  successful. 
Sailing  from  the  western  side  of  Iceland,  Eirek  steered  boldly  to  the  west. 
At  length  he  found  land,  and  called  the  place  Midjokul.  Then,  coasting 
along  the  shore  in  a  southerly  direction,  he  sought  to  find  a  place  more 
suitable  for  settlement.  He  spent  the  winter  on  a  part  of  the  coast  which 
he  named  "Eirek's  Island."  A  satisfactory  situation  for  his  colony  was 
found,  and  he  remained  there  two  years. 

On  returning  to  Iceland  he  called  the  discovered  country  "Greenland," 
saying  to  his  confidential  friends,  "A  name  so  inviting  will  induce  men  to 
emigrate  thither."  Finally,  he  went  again  to  Greenland,  accompanied  by 
"twenty-five  ships"  filled  with  emigrants  and  stores,  and  his  colony  was 


Appendix.  281 

established.  "This  happened,"  says  the  chronicle,  "fifteen  winters  be 
fore  the  Christian  religion  was  introduced  into  Iceland;"  that  is  to  say, 
Eirek  made  this  second  voyage  to  Greenland  fifteen  years  previous  to  1000 
A.D.  Biarni,  son  of  Heriulf,  a  chief  man  among  these  colonists,  was  ab 
sent  in  Norway  when  his  father  left  Iceland.  On  returning,  he  decided  to 
follow  and  join  the  colony,  although  neither  he  nor  any  of  his  companions 
had  ever  seen  Greenland,  or  sailed  on  the  "Greenland  Ocean."  Having 
arranged  his  business,  he  set  sail,  and  made  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
and  fearful  voyages  on  record. 

On  leaving  Iceland  they  sailed  three  days  with  a  fair  wind  ;  then  arose 
a  storm  of  northeasterly  winds,  accompanied  by  very  cloudy,  thick  weath 
er.  They  were  driven  before  this  storm  for  many  days,  they  knew  not 
whither.  At  length  the  weather  cleared,  and  they  could  see  the  sky. 
Then  they  sailed  west  another  day,  and  saw  land  different  from  any  they 
had  previously  known,  for  it  "was  not  mountainous."  In  reply  to  the 
anxious  sailors,  Biarni  said  this  could  not  be  Greenland.  They  put  the 
ship  about  and  steered  in  a  northeasterly  direction  two  days  more.  Again 
they  saw  land  which  was  low  and  level.  Biarni  thought  this  could  not  be 
Greenland.  For  three  more  days  they  sailed  in  the  same  direction,  and 
came  to  a  land  that  was  "mountainous,  and  covered  with  ice."  This 
proved  to  be  an  island,  around  which  they  sailed.  Steering  toward  the 
north,  they  sailed  four  days  and  again  discovered  land,  which  Biarni  thought 
was  Greenland,  and  so  it  proved.  They  were  on  the  southern  coast,  near 
the  new  settlement. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  first  land  Biarni  saw  was  either  Nantucket  or 
Cape  Cod  ;  the  next  was  Nova  Scotia,  around  Cape  Sable;  and  the  island 
around  which  they  coasted  was  Newfoundland.  This  voyage  was  made 
five  hundred  and  seven  years  earlier  than  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus. 

Biarni's  report  of  his  discoveries  was  heard  with  great  interest,  and 
caused  much  speculation ;  but  the  settlers  in  Greenland  were  too  busy 
making  their  new  homes  to  undertake  voyages  in  that  direction  immedi 
ately.  Fourteen  years  later,  Leif,  a  son  of  Eirek  the  Red,  being  in  Nor 
way,  was  incited  to  fit  out  an  expedition  to  go  in  search  of  the  strange 
lands  Biarni  had  seen.  On  returning  to  Greenland  "he  had  an  interview 
with  Biarni,  and  bought  his  ship,  which  he  fitted  out  and  manned  with 
thirty-five  men."  The  first  land  seen  by  Leif,  after  he  sailed  from  Green 
land,  was  the  island  around  which  Biarni  sailed.  This  he  named  Helluland 
(the  land  of  broad  stones).  Sailing  on  toward  the  south,  they  came  next 
to  a  land  that  was  low  and  level,  and  covered  with  wood.  This  they  call 
ed  Markland  (the  land  of  woods).  The  narrative  goes  on  :  "They  now 
put  to  sea  with  a  northeast  wind,  and,  sailing  still  toward  the  south,  after 
two  days  touched  at  an  island  [Nantucket  ?]  which  lay  opposite  the  north- 


282  Ancient  America. 

east  part  of  the  main  land."  Then  they  "sailed  through  a  bay  between 
this  island  and  a  cape  running  northeast,  and,  going  westward,  sailed  past 
the  Cape  ;"  and  at  length  they  "passed  up  a  river  into  a  bay,"  where  they 
landed.  They  had  probably  reached  Mount  Hope  Bay. 

They  constructed  rude  dwellings,  and  prepared  to  spend  the  winter  at 
this  place.  It  was  about  mid-autumn,  and,  finding  wild  grapes,  they  call 
ed  the  country  Vinland.  Leif  and  his  people  were  much  pleased  with 
"  the  mildness  of  the  climate  and  goodness  of  the  soil."  The  next  spring 
they  loaded  their  vessels  with  timber  and  returned  to  Greenland,  where, 
Eirek  the  Ked  having  died,  Leif  inherited  his  estate  and  authority,  and  left 
exploring  expeditions  to  others. 

The  next  year  Leif's  brother  Thorvald  went  to  Vinland  with  one  ship 
and  thirty  men,  and  there  passed  the  winter.  The  following  summer  he 
explored  the  coast  westward  and  southward,  and  seems  to  have  gone  as 
far  south  as  the  Carolinas.  In  the  autumn  they  returned  to  Vinland, 
where  they  passed  another  winter.  The  next  summer  they  coasted  around 
Cape  Cod  toward  Boston  Harbor,  and,  getting  aground  on  Cape  Cod,  they 
called  it  Kialarness,  Keel  Cape.  Here  the  chronicle  first  speaks  of  the 
natives,  whom  it  calls  "  Skraellings."  It  says:  "They  perceived  on  the 
sandy  shore  of  the  bay  three  small  elevations.  On  going  to  them  they 
found  three  boats  made  of  skins,  and  under  each  boat  three  men.  They 
seized  all  the  men  but  one,  who  was  so  nimble  as  to  escape  with  his  boat;" 
and  "  they  killed  all  those  whom  they  had  taken."  The  doctrine  of  "nat 
ural  enemies"  was  more  current  among  the  old  Northmen  than  that  of  hu 
man  brotherhood. 

A  retribution  followed  swiftly.  They  were  presently  attacked  by  a 
swarm  of  natives  in  boats.  The  "  Skraellings"  were  beaten  off;  but  Thor 
vald,  being  fatally  wounded  in  the  skirmish,  died,  and  was  buried  on  a 
neighboring  promontory.  His  companions,  after  passing  a  third  winter  in 
Vinland,  returned  to  Greenland,  having  been  absent  three  years.  This, 
considering  the  circumstances,  was  an  adventurous  voyage,  a  brave  explor 
ing  expedition  sent  from  the  arctic  regions  to  make  discoveries  in  the  mys 
terious  world  at  the  south.  On  reading  the  narrative,  one  longs  for  that 
more  ample  account  of  the  voyage  which  would  have  been  given  if  Thor 
vald  himself  had  lived  to  return. 

The  "Account  of  Eirek  the  Red  and  Greenland"  tells  of  an  expedition 
planned  by  Eirek's  youngest  son,  Thorstein,  which  was  prevented  by  Thor- 
stein's  death.  It  relates  the  particulars  of  a  voyage  to  Vinland  made  by 
Eirek's  daughter,  Freydis,  with  her  husband  and  his  two  brothers.  Frey- 
dis  is  described  as  a  cruel,  hard-hearted,  enterprising  woman,  "mindful 
only  of  gain."  The  chronicle  says  her  husband,  named  Thorvald,  was 
"  weak-minded,"  and  that  she  married  him  because  he  was  rich.  During 


Appendix.  283 

the  voyage  she  contrived  to  destroy  her  husband's  brothers  and  seize  their 
ship,  for  which  evil  deed  she  was  made  to  feel  her  brother  Leif  's  anger  on 
her  return.  The  same  chronicle  gives  an  account  of  a  voyage  northward, 
up  Baffin's  Bay,  and  through  wrhat  is  now  called  Wellington  Channel. 
There  is  also  a  romantic  story  of  Thorstein's  widow,  Gudrid,  an  exceed 
ingly  beautiful  and  noble-minded  woman,  which  tells  how  she  was  courted 
and  married  by  Thorfinn  Karlsefne,  a  man  of  distinguished  character  and 
rank,  who  came  from  Iceland  with  ships,  and  was  entertained  by  Leif. 

Thorfinn  came  to  Greenland  in  the  year  1006,  and,  having  married  Gud 
rid,  Thorstein's  widow,  was  induced  by  her  to  undertake  a  voyage  to  Vin- 
land.  They  left  Greenland  with  three  ships  and  a  hundred  and  sixty 
men,  taking  with  them  livestock  and  all  things  necessary  to  the  establish 
ment  of  a  colony.  The  vessels  touched  at  Newfoundland  and  Nova  Sco 
tia,  and,  having  reached  Vinland,  they  passed  up  Buzzard's  Bay,  disem 
barked  their  livestock,  and  preparations  were  made  for  winter  residence. 
Here  they  passed  the  winter ;  and  here  Gudrid  gave  birth  to  a  son,  who 
lived  and  grew  to  manhood,  and  among  whose  lineal  descendants  was 
Thorvaldsen,  the  Danish  sculptor. 

The  winter  was  severe ;  their  provisions  began  to  fail,  and  they  were 
threatened  with  famine.  This  occasioned  many  anxieties  and  some  ad 
ventures.  One  of  the  company,  a  fierce,  resolute  man,  bewailed  their 
apostasy  from  the  old  religion,  and  declared  that  to  find  relief  they  must 
return  to  the  worship  of  Thor.  But  they  found  a  supply  of  provisions 
without  trying  this  experiment.  Thor's  worshiper  afterward  left  the  com 
pany  with  a  few  companions  to  pursue  an  expedition  of  his  own,  and  was 
killed  by  the  natives. 

The  next  spring  Thorfinn  explored  the  coast  farther  west  and  south. 
Then  he  went  to  the  bay  where  Leif  spent  the  winter,  and  there  passed  his 
second  winter  in  Vinland.  He  called  the  bay  Hop.  The  Indians  called 
it  Haup ;  we  call  it  Hope.  During  the  next  season  they  saw  many  na 
tives  and  had  much  intercourse  with  them,  which  finally  led  to  hostilities. 
The  natives,  in  great  numbers,  attacked  them  fiercely,  but  were  signally 
defeated.  Freydis,  being  with  the  company,  fought  desperately  in  this  bat 
tle,  and  greatly  distinguished  herself  as  a  terrible  combatant,  although  in 
that  peculiar  condition  which  does  not  specially  qualify  a  woman  for  such 
exploits.  Thorfinn  afterward  explored  Massachusetts  Bay,  spent  a  third 
winter  in  Vinland,  and  then,  with  part  of  the  company,  returned  to  Green 
land.  He  finally  went  back  to  his  home  in  Iceland,  and  there  remained 
during  the  rest  of  his  life. 

The  Indians  had  traditions  which  appear  to  have  preserved  recollec 
tions  of  these  visits  of  the  Northmen.  In  1787,  Michael  Lort,  Vice-presi 
dent  of-  the  London  Antiquarian  Society,  published  a  work,  in  which  he 


284  Ancient  America. 

quoted  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  New  England,  dated  more 
than  half  a  century  earlier :  "There  was  a  tradition  current  with  the  old 
est  Indians  in  these  parts  that  there  came  a  wooden  house,  and  men  of  an 
other  country  in  it,  swimming  up  the  Assoonet,  as  this  (Taunton)  river 
was  then  called,  who  fought  the  Indians  with  mighty  success." 

There  was  now  a  settlement  in  Vinland,  at  Hop  Bay,  and  voyages  to 
that  region  became  frequent.  The  old  Norse  narrative  says:  "Expedi 
tions  to  Vinland  now  became  very  frequent  matters  of  consideration,  for 
these  expeditions  were  considered  both  lucrative  and  honorable."  The 
following  appears  in  Wheaton's  History  of  the  Northmen:  "A  part  of 
Thorfinn's  company  remained  in  Vinland,  and  were  afterward  joined  by 
two  Icelandic  chieftains.  *  *  In  the  year  1059,  it  is  said,  an  Irish  or  Sax 
on  priest  named  Jon  or  John,  who  had  spent  some  time  in  Iceland,  went 
to  preach  to  the  colonists  in  Vinland,  where  he  was  murdered  by  the  hea 
then."  The  following  is  from  the  Introduction  to  Henderson's  Iceland: 
"In  the  year  1121,  Eirek,  bishop  of  Greenland,  made  a  voyage  to  Vin 
land." 

Thus  it  appears  to  be  an  authenticated  fact  that  the  Northmen  had  a 
settlement  or  settlements  in  New  England  six  hundred  years  previous  to 
the  arrival  of  English  settlers.  It  is  probable  that  their  Vinland  settle 
ments  consisted  chiefly  of  trading  and  lumbering  establishments.  The 
first  explorers  "loaded  their  vessels  with  timber"  when  ready  to  return  to 
Greenland,  where  the  lack  of  timber  was  so  great  that  the  settlers  found  it 
necessary  to  use  stone  for  building  material.  The  Vinland  timber-trade 
became  naturally  an  important  business,  but  neither  Greenland  nor  Ice 
land  could  furnish  emigrants  to  occupy  the  country.  Traces  of  the  old 
Norse  settlements  in  Greenland  are  still  visible  in  the  ruins  of  stone  build 
ings.  Near  the  Bay  of  Igalito,  in  Greenland,  are  remains  of  a  stone  church. 
Vinland  was  covered  with  great  forests,  and  there  it  was  much  easier  and 
cheaper  to  build  houses  of  wood. 

The  Norse  records  speak  also  of  a  region  south  of  Vinland  to  which 
voyages  were  made.  It  is  called  Huitramannaland.  Indeed,  two  great 
regions  farther  south  are  mentioned.  There  is  a  romantic  story  of  one 
Biorn  Asbrandson,  a  noble  Icelander,  who,  being  crossed  in  his  matrimo 
nial  desires,  went  away  toward  Vinland ;  but  his  vessel  was  driven  much 
farther  south  by  a  storm.  Nothing  was  heard  of  him  until  part  of  the 
crew  of  a  Norse  vessel,  on  a  voyage  to  Huitramannaland,  were  captured 
by  the  natives,  among  whom  Biorn  was  living  as  a  chief.  He  discovered 
an  old  acquaintance  among  the  prisoners  whom  he  found  means  to  re 
lease.  He  talked  freely  with  his  old  friend  of  the  past,  and  of  Iceland,  but 
would  not  leave  his  savage  friends. 

How  little  we  know  of  what  has  been  in  the  past  ages,  notwithstanding 


Appendix.  285 

our  many  volumes  of  history !  We  listen  attentively  to  what  gets  a  wide 
and  brilliant  publication,  and  either  fail  to  hear  or  doubt  every  thing  else. 
If  these  Norse  adventurers  had  sailed  from  England  or  Spain,  those  coun 
tries  being  what  they  were  in  the  time  of  Columbus,  their  colonies  would 
not  have  failed,  through  lack  of  men  and  means  to  support  and  extend 
them,  and  the  story  of  their  discoveries  would  have  been  told  in  every  lan 
guage  and  community  of  the  civilized  world.  But  the  little  communities 
in  Iceland  and  Greenland  were  very  different  from  rich  and  powerful  na 
tions.  Instead  of  being  in  direct  communication  with  the  great  move 
ments  of  human  life  in  Europe,  recorded  in  what  we  read  as  history,  they 
were  far  off  in  the  Northern  Ocean,  and,  out  of  Norway,  almost  unknown 
to  Europe.  Afterward,  when  the  name  and  discoveries  of  Columbus  had 
taken  control  of  thought  and  imagination,  it  became  difficult  for  even  in 
telligent  men,  with  the  old  Norse  records  before  them,  to  see  the  claims  of 
the  Northmen. 


B. 

THE  WELSH  IN  AMERICA. 

THE  story  of  the  emigration  to  America  of  Prince  Madoc,  or  Madog,  is 
told  in  the  old  Welsh  books  as  follows : 

About  the  year  1168  or  1169  A.D.,  Owen  Gwynedd,  ruling  prince  of 
North  Wales,  died,  and  among  his  sons  there  was  a  contest  for  the  succes 
sion,  which,  becoming  angry  and  fierce,  produced  a  civil  war.  His  son 
Madoc,  who  had  "command  of  the  fleet,"  took  no  part  in  this  strife. 
Greatly  disturbed  by  the  public  trouble,  and  not  being  able  to  make  the 
combatants  hear  reason,  he  resolved  to  leave  Wales  and  go  across  the 
ocean  to  the  land  at  the  west.  Accordingly,  in  the  year  1170  A.D.,  he 
left  with  a  few  ships,  going  south  of  Ireland,  and  steering  westward.  The 
purpose,  of  this  voyage  was  to  explore  the  western  land  and  select  a  place 
for  settlement.  He  found  a  pleasant  and  fertile  region,  where  his  settle 
ment  was  established.  Leaving  one  hundred  and  twenty  persons,  he  re 
turned  to  Wales,  prepared  ten  ships,  prevailed  on  a  large  company,  some 
of  whom  were  Irish,  to  join  him,  and  sailed  again  to  America.  Nothing 
more  was  ever  heard  in  Wales  of  Prince  Madog  or  his  settlement. 

All  this  is  related  in  old  Welsh  annals  preserved  in  the  abbeys  of  Con- 
way  and  Strat  Flur.  These  annals  were  used  by  Humphrey  Llwyd  in  his 
translation  and  continuation  of  Caradoc's  History  of  Wales,  the  continua 
tion  extending  from  1157  to  1270  A. P.  This  emigration  of  Prince  Ma 
dog  is  mentioned  in  the  preserved  works  of  several  Welsh  bards  who  lived 


286  Ancient  America. 

before  the  time  of  Columbus.  It  is  mentioned  by  Hakluyt,  who  had  his 
account  of  it  from  writings  of  the  bard  Guttun  Owen.  As  the  Northman 
had  been  in  New  England  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  when  Prince 
Madog  went  forth  to  select  a  place  for  his  settlement,  he  knew  very  well 
there  was  a  continent  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  for  he  had  knowl 
edge  of  their  voyages  to  America  ;  and  knowledge  of  them  was  also  prev 
alent  in  Ireland.  His  emigration  took  place  when  Henry  II.  was  king  of 
England,  but  in  that  age  the  English  knew  little  or  nothing  of  Welsh  af 
fairs  in  such  a  way  as  to  connect  them  with  English  history  very  closely. 

It  is  supposed  that  Madog  settled  somewhere  in  the  Carolinas,  and  that 
his  colony,  unsupported  by  new  arrivals  from  Europe,  and  cut  oft'  from 
communicated  with  that  side  of  the  ocean,  became  weak,  and,  after  being 
much  reduced,  was  destroyed  or  absorbed  by  some  powerful  tribe  of  In 
dians.  In  our  colony  times,  and  later,  there  was  no  lack  of  reports  that 
relics  of  Madog's  Welshmen,  and  even  their  language,  had  been  discovered 
among  the  Indians ;  but  generally  they  were  entitled  to  no  credit.  The 
only  report  of  this  kind  having  any  show  of  claim  to  respectful  considera 
tion  is  that  of  Rev.  Morgan  Jones,  made  in  1686,  in  a  letter  giving  an  ac 
count  of  his  adventures  among  the  Tuscaroras.  These  Tuscarora  Indians 
were  lighter  in  color  than  the  other  tribes,  and  this  peculiarity  was  so  no 
ticeable  that  they  were  frequently  mentioned  as  "White  Indians."  Mr. 
Jones's  account  of  his  experiences  among  them  was  written  in  March, 
1686,  and  published  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  the  year  1740,  as 
follows : 

"  REV.  MORGAN  JONEs's  STATEMENT. 

"These  presents  certify  all  persons  whatever,  that  in  the  yeai-  1G60, 
being  an  inhabitant  of  Virginia,  and  chaplain  to  Major  General  Bennet, 
of  Mansoman  County,  the  said  Major  General  Bennet  and  Sir  William 
Berkeley  sent  two  ships  to  Port  Royal,  now  called  South  Carolina,  which 
is  sixty  leagues  southward  of  Cape  Fair,  and  I  was  sent  therewith  to  be 
their  minister.  Upon  the  8th  of  April  we  set  out  from  Virginia,  and  ar 
rived  at  the  harbor's  mouth  of  Port  Royal  the  19th  of  the  same  month, 
where  we  waited  for  the  rest  of  the  fleet  that  was  to  sail  from  Barbadoes 
and  Bermuda  with  one  Mr.  West,  who  was  to  be  deputy  governor  of  said 
place.  As  soon  as  the  fleet  came  in,  the  smallest  vessels  that  were  with 
us  sailed  up  the  river  to  a  place  called  the  Oyster  Point ;  there  I  contin 
ued  about  eight  months,  all  which  time  being  almost  starved  for  want  of 
provisions :  I  and  five  more  traveled  through  the  wilderness  till  we  came 
to  the  Tuscarora  country. 

"There  the  Tuscarora  Indians  took  us  prisoners  because  we  told  them 
that  we  were  bound  to  Roanock.  That  night  they  carried  us  to  their 


Appendix.  287 

town  and  shut  us  up  close,  to  our  no  small  dread.  The  next  day  they 
entered  into  a  consultation  about  us,  and,  after  it  was  over,  their  inter 
preter  told  us  that  we  must  prepare  ourselves  to  die  next  morning,  where 
upon,  being  very  much  dejected,!  spoke  to  this  effect  in  the  British  [Welsh] 
tongue :  '  Have  I  escaped  so  many  dangers,  and  must  1  now  be  knocked 
on  the  head  like  a  dog!'  Then  presently  came  an  Indian  to  me,  which 
afterward  appeared  to  be  a  war  captain  belonging  to  the  sachem  of  the 
Doegs  (whose  original,  I  find,  must  needs  be  from  the  Old  Britons),  and 
took  me  up  by  the  middle,  and  told  me  in  the  British  [Welsh]  tongue  I 
should  not  die,  and  thereupon  went  to  the  emperor  of  Tuscarora,  and 
agreed  for  my  ransom  and  the  men  that  were  with  me. 

"They  (the  Doegs)  then  welcomed  us  to  their  town,  and  entertained 
us  very  civilly  and  cordially  four  months,  during  which  time  I  had  the  op 
portunity  of  conversing  with  them  familiarly  in  the  British  [Welsh]  lan 
guage,  and  did  preach  to  them  in  the  same  language  three  times  a  week, 
and  they  would  confer  with  me  about  any  thing  that  was  difficult  therein, 
and  at  our  departure  they  abundantly  supplied  us  with  whatever  was  nec 
essary  to  our  support  and  well  doing.  They  are  settled  upon  Pontigo 
River,  not  far  from  Cape  Atros.  This  is  a  brief  recital  of  my  travels 
among  the  Doeg  Indians.  MORGAN  JONES, 

"  the  son  of  John  Jones,  of  Basateg,  near  Newport,  in  the  County  of 

Monmouth.     I  am  ready  to  conduct  any  Welshman  or  others  to 

the  country. 
"  New  York,  March  10th,  16S5-6." 

Other  accounts  of  his  "travels"  among  the  "Doegs"  of  the  Tuscarora 
nation  were  published  much  earlier,  but  no  other  has  been  preserved.  His 
veracity  was  never  questioned.  What  shall  be  said  of  his  statement  ? 
Were  the  remains  of  Prince  Madog's  company  represented  in  these  "  Doeg" 
Tuscaroras?  He  is  very  explicit  in  regard  to  the  matter  of  language,  and 
it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  he  could  be  mistaken.  They  understood  his 
Welsh,  not  without  needing  explanation  of  some  things  "difficult  there 
in."  He  was  able  to  converse  with  them  and  preach  to  them  in  Welsh ; 
and  yet,  if  he  got  an  explanation  of  the  existence  of  the  Welsh  language 
among  these  "Doegs,"  or  sought  to  know  any  thing  in  regard  to  their  tra 
ditional  history,  he  omits  entirely  to  say  so.  Without  meaning  to  doubt 
his  veracity,  one  feels  skeptical,  and  desires  a  more  intelligent  and  com 
plete  account  of  these  "  travels." 


288  Ancient  America. 

c. 

ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDS. 

There  are  indications  that  the  Pacific  world  had  an  important  ancient 
history,  and  these  multiply  as  our  knowledge  of  that  world  increases.  The 
wide  diffusion  of  Malay  dialects  in  the  Pacific  islands  suggests  the  con 
trolling  influence  by  which  that  ancient  history  was  directed.  The  an 
cient  remains  at  Easter  Island  are  known;  two  of  the  "great  images" 
found  there  are  now  in  the  British  Museum.  All  who  have  examined 
this  island  believe  these  remains  "were  the  work  of  a  former  race,  "and 
that  it  had  formerly  "  an  abundant  population. "  It  is  not  generally  known 
that  antiquities  more  important  than  these  exist  on  many  of  the  other  isl' 
ands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

An  educated  and  very  intelligent  gentleman,  who  has  lived  many  years 
on  one  of  these  islands,  and  visited  a  considerable  portion  of  Polynesia, 
finds  that  the  Pacific  has  antiquities  which  deserve  attention.  lie  has  sent 
me  papers  containing  descriptions  of  some  of  them,  taken  from  the  diary 
of  an  intelligent  and  observant  shipmaster,  much  of  whose  life  as  a  mari 
ner  has  been  passed  on  the  Pacific.  These  papers  were  prepared  for  pub 
lication  in  a  newspaper  at  Sydney.  The  gentleman  sending  them  says  in 
his  letter:  "These  researches  are  not  very  minute  or  accurate,  but  they 
indicate  that  there  is  a  vast  field  ready  for  exploration  in  the  Pacific,  as 
well  as  in  Central  America  and  Egypt." 

The  papers  to  which  I  refer  begin  with  ruins  observed  in  the  island  of 
Ascension  or  Fanipe,  and  describe  "the  great  temple''  at  Metallanine. 
This  was  a  large  edifice,  well  built  of  stone,  and  connected  with  canals  and 
earth-works.  "Vaults,  passages,  and  platforms,  all  of  basaltic  stones,"  are 
mentioned;  also,  "below  the  pavement  of  the  main  quadrangle,  on  opposite 
sides,  are  two  passages  or  gateways,  each  about  ten  feet  square,  pierced 
through  the  outer  wall  down  to  the  waters  of  the  canal."  Within  the 
walls  is  a  "  central  pyramidal  chamber  or  temple,"  with  a  tree  growing  on 
it.  The  whole  ruin  is  now  covered  with  trees  and  other  vegetation. 

Other  ruins  exist  in  the  island,  one  or  two  of  which  are  described. 
"Some  are  close  upon  the  sea-shore,  others  are  on  the  tops  of  solitary 
hills,  and  some  are  found  on  plateaus  or  cleared  spaces  far  inland,  but 
commanding  views  of  the  sea.  One  of  the  latter  kind  is  a  congeries  of  ru 
inous  heaps  of  square  stones,  covering  at  least  five  or  six  acres.  It  is  sit 
uated  on  a  piece  of  table-land,  surrounded  by  dense  forest  growths,  and 
itself  covered  with  low  jungle.  There  is  the  appearance  of  a  ditch,  in  the 
form  of  a  cross,  at  the  intersecting  angles  of  which  are  tall  mounds  of 
ruin,  of  which  the  original  form  is  now  undistinguishable  beyond  the  fact 


Appendix.  289 

that  the  basements,  constructed  of  large  stones,  indicate  that  the  structures 
were  square.  The  natives  can  not  be  induced  to  go  near  this  place,  al 
though  it  abounds  in  wild  pigeons,  which  they  are  extremely  fond  of 
hunting." 

These  ruined  structures  were  not  built  by  barbarous  people  such  as  now 
inhabit  the  island  of  Ascension.  There  is  no  tradition  relating  to  their 
origin  or  history  among  the  present  inhabitants,  who,  it  is  said,  attribute 
them  to  "mauli,"  evil  spirits.  The  "great  temple"  was  occupied  for  a 
time,  "  several  generations  ago,"  according  to  the  natives,  by  the  ship 
wrecked  crew  of  a  Spanish  buccaneer  ;  and  relics  of  these  outlaws  are  still 
found  in  its  vaults,  which  they  used  as  storehouses. 

On  many  low  islands  of  the  Marshall  and  Gilbert  groups  are  curious 
pyramids,  tall  and  slender,  built  of  stones.  The  natives  regard  them  with 
superstitious  fear.  The  author  of  these  papers,  being  a  mariner,  suggests 
that  they  are  ' '  landmarks  or  relics  of  ancient  copper-colored  voyagers  of 
the  Polynesian  race  during  their  great  migrations."  Remarkable  struc 
tures  of  this  kind  are  found  on  Tapituea,  one  of  the  Kingsmill  islands, 
and  on  Tinian,  one  of  the  Ladrones,  where,  also,  remarkable  Cyclopean 
structures  are  found.  They  are  solid,  truncated  pyramidal  columns,  gen 
erally  about  twenty  feet  high  and  ten  feet  square  at  the  base.  The  monu 
ments  on  Tinian  were  seen  by  M.  Arago,  who  accompanied  Bougainville. 
According  to  his  description  they  form  two  long  colonnades,  the  two  rows 
being  thirty  feet  apart,  and  seeming  to  have  once  been  connected  by  some 
thing  like  roofing.  On  Swallow's  Island,  some  twelve  degrees  eastward 
of  Tapituea,  is  a  pyramid  similar  in  construction ;  and  on  the  west  side  of 
this  island  is  "a  vast  quadrangular  inclosure  of  stone,  containing  several 
mounds,  or  probably  edifices  of  some  kind,  of  which  the  form  and  con 
tents  are  not  known  by  reason  of  their  being  buried  under  drift-sand  and 
guano." 

On  Strong's  Island,  and  others  connected  with  it,  are  ruins  similar  to 
those  at  Metallanine.  On  Lele,  which  is  separated  from  Strong's  Island 
at  the  harbor  by  a  very  narrow  channel,  there  is  a  "  conical  mountain  sur 
rounded  by  a  wall  some  twenty  feet  high,  and  of  enormous  thickness." 
The  whole  island  appears  to  present  "  a  series  of  Cyclopean  inclosures  and 
lines  of  great  walls  every  where  overgrown  with  forest."  Some  of  the  in 
closures  are  parallelograms  200  by  100  feet  in  extent;  one  is  much  larger. 
The  walls  are  generally  twelve  feet  thick,  and  within  are  vaults,  artificial 
caverns,  and  secret  passages.  No  white  man  is  allowed  to  live  on  Lele, 
and  strangers  are  forbidden  to  examine  the  ruins,  in  which,  it  is  supposed, 
is  concealed  the  plunder  taken  by  the  natives  from  captured  or  stranded 
ships.  On  the  southwest  side  of  the  harbor,  at  Strong's  Island,  "are  many 
<*anals  lined  with  stone.  They  cross  each  other  at  right  angles,  and  the 

N 


290  Ancient  America. 

islands  between  their  intersections  were  artificially  raised,  and  had  tall 
buildings  erected  on  them,  some  of  which  are  still  entire.  One  quadran 
gular  tower,  about  forty  feet  high,  is  very  remarkable.  The  forest  around 
them  is  dense  and  gloomy ;  the  canals  are  broken  and  choked  with  man 
groves."  Not  more  than  500  people  now  inhabit  these  islands  ;  their  tra 
dition  is,  that  an  ancient  city  formerly  stood  around  this  harbor,  mostly  on 
Lele,  occupied  by  a  powerful  people  whom  they  call  "Anut,"  and  who  had 
large  vessels,  in  which  they  made  long  voyages  east  and  west,  "many 
moons"  being  required  for  one  of  these  voyages. 

Great  stone  structures  on  some  of  Navigator's  Islands,  of  which  the  na 
tives  can  give  no  account,  are  mentioned  without  being  particularly  de 
scribed.  Some  account  is  given  of  one  remarkable  structure.  On  a 
mountain  ridge  1500  feet  above  the  sea,  and  near  the  edge  of  a  precipice 
500  feet  high,  is  a  circular  platform  built  of  huge  blocks  of  volcanic  stone. 
It  is  150  feet  in  diameter,  and  about  20  feet  high.  On  one  side  was  the 
precipice,  and  on  the  other  a  ditch  that  may  have  been  originally  20  feet 
deep.  Trees  six  feet  in  diameter  are  now  growing  in  the  ruins  of  this 
platform.  Remarkable  ruins  exist  on  some  of  the  Marquesas  Islands,  but 
they  have  not  been  clearly  described. 

At  first,  when  these  antiquities  were  noticed  by  seamen,  it  was  suggested 
that  they  were  the  remains  of  works  constructed  by  the  old  buccaneers;  but 
closer  examination  soon  put  aside  this  theory.  Neither  the  buccaneers, 
nor  any  other  people  from  Europe,  would  have  constructed  such  works ; 
and,  besides,  it  is  manifest  that  they  were  ruins  before  any  crew  of  bucca 
neers  sailed  on  the  Pacific.  The  remains  on  Easter  Island  were  described 
by  Captain  Cook.  It  has  now  been  discovered  that  such  remains  exist  at 
various  points  throughout  Polynesia,  and  greater  familiarity  with  the  isl 
ands  will  very  likely  bring  to  light  many  that  have  not  yet  been  seen  by 
Europeans.  The  author  of  these  papers,  referring  to  the  old  discarded 
suggestion  relative  to  the  buccaneers,  says:  "Centuries  of  European  oc 
cupation  would  have  been  required  for  the  existence  of  such  extensive  re 
mains,  which  are,  moreover,  not  in  any  style  of  architecture  practiced  by 
people  of  the  Old  World." 

It  is  stated  that  similar  stone- work,  consisting  of  "walls,  strongholds, 
and  great  inclosures,"  exists  on  the  eastern  side  of  Formosa,  which  is  oc 
cupied  by  a  people  wholly  distinct  in  race  from  the  Mongols  who  invaded 
and  occupied  the  other  side.  The  influence  to  which  these  ancient  works 
are  due  seems  to  have  pervaded  Polynesia  from  the  Marquesas  Islands  at 
the  east,  to  the  Ladrone  and  Carolina  Islands  at  the  west,  and  what  is  said 
of  the  present  inhabitants  of  Ascension  Island  might  have  a  wider  applica 
tion,  namely,  "They  create  on  the  mind  of  a  stranger  the  impression  of  a 
people  who  have  degenerated  from  something  higher  and  better."  At  a 


Apperidix.  291 

few  points  in  Polynesia  a  small  portion  of  the  people  show  Mongol  traits. 
Dark-colored  people,  evidently  of  the  Papuan  variety,  somewhat  mixed 
with  the  brown  race  it  may  be,  are  found  at  various  points  in  larger  num 
bers  ;  but  the  great  body  of  the  Polynesians  are  a  brown  race,  established 
(at  a  very  remote  period,  perhaps)  by  a  mixture  of  the  Papuans  with  the 
Malays.  Now  take  into  consideration  the  former  existence  of  a  great 
Malayan  empire,  the  wide  distribution  of  Malay  dialects  on  the  Pacific, 
and  the  various  indications  that  there  was  formerly  in  Polynesia  some 
thing  higher  and  better  in  the  condition  of  the  people,  and  the  ancient  his 
tory  indicated  by  these  ruins  will  not  seem  mysterious,  nor  shall  we  feel 
constrained  to  treat  as  incredible  the  Central  American  and  Peruvian  tra 
ditions  that  anciently  strangers  came  from  the  Pacific  world  in  ships  to 
the  west  coast  of  America  for  commercial  intercourse  with  the  civilized 
countries  existing  here. 

Kuins  similar  in  character  are  found  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  but  here 
the  masonry  is  occasionally  superior  to  that  found  elsewhere.  A  gentle 
man  interested  in  archaeological  inquiries  gives  the  following  account  of  a 
Hawaiian  ruin  which  he  visited  in  the  interior,  about  thirty  miles  from 
Hilo.  He  says  he  went  with  several  companions  to  the  hill  of  Kukii, 
which  he  describes  as  follows : 

"The  hill  is  so  regular  in  its  outline  that  it  appears  like  a  work  of  art, 
a  giant  effort  of  the  Mound  -  Builders.  Its  general  form  resembles  very 
much  the  pyramid  of  Cholulu  in  Mexico,  and  from  this  fact  I  felt  a  great 
interest  in  climbing  it.  We  proceeded,  Conway,  Eldhardt,  Kaiser,  and  I, 
on  foot  up  the  grassy  slope  of  the  hill.  There  was  an  absence  of  all  vol 
canic  matter ;  no  stone  on  the  hill  except  what  had  been  brought  there  by 
the  hand  of  man.  As  we  arrived  near  the  summit  we  came  upon  great 
square  blocks  of  hewn  stone  overgrown  by  shrubbery,  and  on  reaching  the 
summit  we  found  that  it  had  been  leveled  and  squared  according  to  the 
cardinal  points,  and  paved.  We  found  two  square  blocks  of  hewn  stone 
imbedded  in  the  earth  in  an  upright  position,  some  fifteen  feet  apart,  and 
ranging  exactly  east  and  west.  Over  the  platform  was  rank  grass,  and  a 
grove  of  cocoanuts  some  hundred  years  old.  Examining  farther,  I  found 
that  the  upper  portion  of  the  hill  had  been  terraced ;  the  terraces  near 
the  summit  could  be  distinctly  traced,  and  they  had  evidently  been  faced 
with  hewn  stone.  The  stones  were  in  perfect  squares  of  not  less  than 
three  feet  in  diameter,  many  of  them  of  much  greater  size.  They  were 
composed  of  a  dark  vitreous  basalt,  the  most  durable  of  all  stone.  It  is 
remarkable  that  every  slab  was  faced  and  polished  upon  every  side,  so  that 
they  could  fit  together  like  sheets  of  paper.  They  reminded  me  much  of 
the  polished  stones  in  some  of  the  walls  of  Tiahuanuco,  and  other  ruins  in 
Peru.  Many  of  the  blocks  were  lying  detached  ;  probably  some  had  been 


292  Ancient  America. 

removed ;  but  there  were  still  some  thirty  feet  of  the  facing  on  the  lower 
terrace  partly  in  position.  But  all  showed  the  ravages  of  time  and  earth 
quakes,  and  were  covered  with  accumulated  soil,  grass,  and  shrubbery. 
Conway  and  myself,  in  descending  the  hill,  had  our  attention  attracted  by 
a  direct  line  of  shrubbery  running  from  the  summit  to  the  base  of  the  hill, 
on  the  western  side,  to  the  cocoanut  grove  below.  Upon  examination,  we 
found  it  to  be  the  remains  of  a  stairway,  evidently  of  hewn  stone,  that  had 
led  from  the  foot  of  the  hill  to  the  first  terrace,  a  height  of  nearly  SCO  feet. 
Within  this  stairway,  near  the  base,  we  found  a  cocoanut-tree  growing, 
more  than  200  years  old,  the  roots  pressing  out  the  rocks.  The  site  for  a 
temple  is  grand  and  imposing,  and  the  view  extensive,  sweeping  the  ocean, 
the  mountains,  and  the  great  lava  plain  of  Puna.  It  was  also  excellent  in 
a  military  point  of  view  as  a  lookout.  From  the  summit  it  appeared  as  an 
ancient  green  island,  around  which  had  surged  and  rolled  a  sea  of  lava ; 
and  so  it  evidently  has  been. 

"By  whom  and  when  was  this  hill  terraced  and  these  stones  hewn? 
There  is  a  mystery  hanging  around  this  hill  which  exists  nowhere  else  in 
the  Sandwich  Islands.  The  other  structures  so  numerously  scattered  over 
the  group  are  made  of  rough  stone ;  there  is  no  attempt  at  a  terrace ;  there  is 
no  flight  of  steps  leading  to  them ;  there  is  no  hewn  or  polished  stone,  nor  is 
there  any  evidence  of  the  same  architectural  skill  evinced.  They  are  the 
oldest  ruins  yet  discovered,  and  were  evidently  erected  by  a  people  consider 
ably  advanced  in  arts,  acquainted  with  the  use  of  metallic  instruments,  the 
cardinal  points,  and  some  mathematical  knowledge.  Were  they  the  ances 
tors  of  the  present  Hawaiians,  or  of  a  different  race  that  has  passed  away?" 

He  inquired  of  the  oldest  natives  concerning  the  history  of  this  ruin, 
but  "they  could  give  only  vague  and  confused  traditions  in  regard  to  it, 
and  these  were  contradictory.  The  only  point  on  which  they  agreed  was 
that  it  had  never  been  used  within  the  memory  of  man. "  They  also  said 
there  was  another  old  structure  of  the  same  kind  in  Kona,  whose  history 
is  lost.  The  language  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  is  so  manifestly  a  dialect 
of  the  Malayan  tongue,  that  the  influence  of  the  Malays  must  have  been 
paramount  in  these  islands  in  ancient  times. 


D. 

DECIPHERING  THE  INSCRIPTIONS. 

IN  the  "Actes  de  la  Societe  Philologique,"  Paris,  for  March,  1870, 
Mons.  H.  de  Charencey  gives  some  particulars  of  his  attempt  to  decipher 
"fragments"  of  one  or  two  very  brief  inscriptions  on  the  bas-relief  of  the 
cross  at  Palenque.  I  know  nothing  of  his  qualifications  for  this  work,  but 


Appendix.  293 

he  appears  to  have  studied  the  characters  of  the  Maya  alphabet  preserved 
and  explained  by  Landa.  It  is  seen,  however,  that  his  attempt  to  deci 
pher  the  inscriptions  is  a  complete  failure.  In  fact,  he  professes  to  have 
done  120  more  than  reproduce  two  or  three  words  in  Koman  characters. 
He  gives  us  Hunab-ku,  Eznab,  and  Kukulcan  as  words  found  on  the  cross. 
Eznab  is  supposed  to  be  the  name  of  a  month,  or  of  a  day  of  the  week, 
and  the  others  names  of  divinities.  He  finds  that  the  characters  of  the 
inscriptions  are  not  in  all  respects  identical  with  those  found  in  Landa, 
and  that  Landa's  list,  especially  when  tested  by  the  inscriptions,  is  incom 
plete.  There  is  not  absolute  certainty  in  regard  to  the  name  Kukulcan ; 
nevertheless,  M.  de  Charencey  makes  this  speculative  use  of  it : 

"The  presence  of  the  name  '  Kukulcan'  on  the  bas-relief  of  the  cross  is 
important  in  a  historical  point  of  view.  The  name  of  this  demigod,  which 
signifies  'the  serpent  with  the  quetzal  plumes,'  is  the  Maya  form  of  the 
Mexican  name  'Quetzalcohuatl,'  which  has  precisely  the  same  meaning. 
But  we  know  that  the  name  and  worship  of  this  god  were  brought  to  the 
high  plateaus  of  Central  America  toward  the  ninth  century  of  our  era, 
consequently  the  bas-relief  in  question  can  not  be  more  ancient. " 

This  assumes  that  the  worship  of  Kukulcan  was  never  heard  of  by  the 
Mayas  until  the  Aztecs  arrived  in  Mexico,  an  assumption  for  which  there 
is  no  warrant,  and  which  proceeds  in  utter  disregard  of  facts.  It  was  the 
Aztecs  who  had  never  heard  of  Kukulcan,  or,  at  least,  had  not  adopted 
his  worship,  previous  to  this  time.  The  Aztecs,  when  they  settled  in  An- 
ahuac,  did  not  impart  new  ideas,  religion,  or  culture  to  any  body ;  on  the 
contrary,  they  received  much  from  the  civilization  of  their  new  neighbors, 
which  was  more  advanced  than  their  own.  It  is  very  certain  that  neither 
the  Mayas  nor  the  Quiche's  borrowed  any  thing  from  them. 

We  need  not  go  back  so  far  as  the  ninth  century  to  find  the  time  when 
the  Aztecs  adopted,  or  at  least  organized  in  Mexico,  the  worship  of  Ku 
kulcan,  whose  name  they  transformed  into  Quetzalcohuatl.  His  worship 
did  not  begin  with  them  ;  they  did  not  introduce  it ;  they  found  it  in  the 
country  as  a  very  ancient  worship,  and  adopted  their  form  of  it  from  the 
people  who  yielded  to  their  sway. 

If  M.  de  Charencey  will  inquire  with  a  little  more  care,  he  will  discover 
that  Kukulcan  was  one  of  the  very  oldest  personages  in  Central  American 
mythology,  as  Con  was  one  of  the  oldest  in  that  of  Peru.  Kukulcan, 
sometimes  as  Zamna,  was  associated  with  almost  every  thing  in  civiliza 
tion.  He  introduced  the  beginnings  of  civilized  life,  invented  the  art  of 
writing,  and  was  to  the  Central  Americans  not  wholly  unlike  what  Thoth 
was  to  the  Egyptians,  and  Tautus,  or  Taut,  to  the  Phoenicians.  If  the 
bas-relief  of  the  cross  at  Palenque  were  half  as  old  as  his  worship  in  Cen 
tral  America,  it  would  be  far  more  ancient  than  any  one  has  supposed. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


[The  figures  in  this  Index  refer  to  pages.] 


ADOBE  used  in  Northern  Mexico,  82 ;  in 
Peru  for  later  constructions,  243  ;  used 
by  Mound-Builders,  27. 

Ancient  history  of  Mexico  and  Central 
America  in  the  old  books  and  tradi 
tions,  197-200 ;  Aztecs  preceded  by  Tol- 
tecs,  and  Toltecs  by  Colhuas,  198  ;  Col- 
huas  the  original  civilizers,  198-9 ;  they 
may  have  come  from  South  America, 
198,  200 ;  Chichimecs  the  original  bar 
barians,  198 ;  the  Colhuas  first  settled 
in  Tabasco,  199 ;  Mayas,  Quiches,  Tzen- 
dals,  etc.,  originally  Colhuas,  200,  205 ; 
Colhuan  kingdom  of  Xibalba,  199  ;  Col 
huas,  Toltecs,  and  Aztecs  branches  of 
the  same  people,  206 ;  such  a  history 
implied  by  the  political  condition  in 
which  the  country  was  found,  206 ;  the 
ories  of  this  old  civilization  considered, 
165-183 ;  it  was  original  in  America, 
184-6. 

Antiquity  of  man  and  civilization,  181-2, 
273-5. 

Antiqiiity  of  the  Mexican  and  Central 
American  ruins,  151-59, 184 ;  the  great 
forest  was  450  years  ago  what  it  is  now, 
151 ;  it  covers  an  ancient  seat  of  civili 
zation,  95,  151,  152;  Copan  forgotten 
and  mysterious  before  the  Conquest, 
152 ;  there  was  a  long  period  of  history 
preceded  by  development  of  the  civili 
zation,  152, 153 ;  distinct  epochs  traced, 
155, 156 ;  no  perishable  materials  left  in 
the  ruins,  156-159 ;  an  extreme  notion 
of  their  antiquity,  157, 158,  207 ;  anoth 
er  notion  makes  this  the  "oldest  civil 
ization  in  the  world,"  159-61 ;  Tyrians 
saw  the  old  cities  3000  years  ago,  162- 
64. 

Antiquity  of  the  Mound-Builders,  45-51 
a  new  river  terrace  formed  since  they 
left,  47;  decayed  condition  of  then 
skeletons  shows  antiquity,  48-9 ;  "pri 
meval"  forests  found  growing  ovei 
their  works,  50-1. 

Astronomical    monument   in    Southern 
Mexico,  122-3 ;  at  Chapultepec,  220-1 
iu  Peru,  254 ;  Mexican  calendars,  214- 
15;  Peruvian  calendars,  236.    See  Tel 
escopic  Tubes. 


Atlantis  supposed  to  be  an  ingulfed  part 
of  America,  175-7 ;  its  destruction  re 
corded  in  Egypt  and  related  to  Solon, 
177-8 ;  said  to  be  recorded  in  old  Cen 
tral  American  books,  176 ;  Proclus  on 
remembrance  of  Atlantis,  178;  deriva 
tion  of  the  words  Atlas,  Atlantes,  and 
Atlantic,  179 ;  opinions  relative  to  for 
mer  existence  of  such  land,  180-1 ;  ge 
ological  probabilities,  181  ;  memory  of 
war  with  the  Atlantes  preserved  at 
Athens,  178. 

Aztec  civilization  denied  in  a  "New  His 
tory,"  207-8 ;  facts  discredit  this  deni 
al,  20S-9  ;  Cortez  found  abundant  sup 
plies,  208,  210 ;  found  Mexican  mechan 
ics,  masous,  and  the  like,  213,  214, 215 ; 
the  city  of  Mexico  and  its  great  temple, 
realities,  208,  212,  215 ;  both  described, 
211-12 ;  present  remains  of  them,  214- 
15. 

Aztecs,  the,  were  less  civilized  than  their 
predecessors,  221 ;  they  came  from  the 
south,  217-18 ;  when  thev  left  Aztlan, 
219 ;  how  long  they  had  been  iu  Mexi 
co,  219  ;  what  they  learned  and  borrow 
ed  of  their  neighbors,  220-1 ;  did  not 
adopt  the  phonetic  system  of  writing, 
221;  could  not  have  left  such  ruined 
cities  as  Palenqne  and  Mitla,  221 ;  Az 
tecs  still  found  at  the  south,  218-19. 

Balboa's  hunt  for  Peru,  223-4. 

Basques,  their  fishing  voyages  to  Ameri 
ca,  62. 

Books  of  ancient  America  destroyed  in 
Mexico  and  Central  America  by  the 
Aztec  Ytzcoatl,  189 ;  by  Spanish  fanat 
icism,  188-9 ;  a  few  of  the  later  books 
saved,  180-196 ;  some  of  the  more  im 
portant,  195-6 ;  books  of  hieroglyphics 
in  Peru,  256. 

Boturini  collected  Mexican  and  Central 
American  books,  195  ;  misfortunes  of 
his  collection,  195-6. 

Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  on  the  antiquity 
of  the  Mound-Builders,  53  ;  on  their 
Mexican  origin,  57 ;  on  their  religion, 
53 ;  on  the  Chichimecs,  198 ;  on  Hue- 
hue  Tlapalau,  201 ;  on  Nahuatl  chro- 


296 


General  Index. 


nology,  204 ;  his  "Atlantic  theory,"  159,  |Cuzco,  Montesinos  on  its  name,  227 ;  was 


160,  174-83 ;  he  has  great  knowledge 
of  American  traditions  and  antiquities, 
174 ;  discovered  the  works  of  Ximenes 
and  Landa's  Maya  alphabet,  191, 192 ; 
translated  "Popol-Vuh,"  192 ;  he  is  un 
systematic,  confused,  and  fanciful,  102, 
160. 

Brereton  on  the  wild  Indians  of  New 
England,  62-5;  his  invented  stories  of 
their  copper  and  flax,  62,  63. 

Calendars  in  Mexico,  214-15;  in  Peru, 
236. 

Central  American  and  Southern  Mexican 
ruins  most  important,  93 ;  their  mason 
ry  and  ornamentation,  99-101 ;  a  great 
forest  covers  most  of  them,  94, 103, 104 ; 
a  road  built  into  the  forest  in  1695,  95, 
151-2 ;  this  forest  covers  a  chief  seat 
of  the  ancient  civilization,  95 ;  Ciuaca- 
Mecallo,  124. 

Cevola,  "  Seven  Cities"  of,  85-9. 

Charencey,  M.  de,  attempts  to  decipher 
an  inscription,  292-3  ;  his  singular  spec 
ulation  concerning  the  worship  of  Ku- 
kulcan,  293. 

Charnay,  Desire,  his  account  of  Mitla, 
121, 122. 

Chronology  of  the  Mexican  race,  203-4 ; 
of  the  Peruvians,  265-6. 

Civilization,  antiquity  of,  underrated, 
181-2,  273. 

Cloth  of  Mound-Builders,  fragments  of, 
41. 

Coin  among  the  Muyscas,  271. 

"Coliseum"  at  Copan,  114. 

Columbus  and  the  Mayas,  209-10. 

Copan,  its  ruins  situated  in  wild  region, 
111 ;  first  discovered  in  1576,  and  were 
then  mysterious  to  the  natives,  93,  111 ; 
what  Mr.  Stephens  saw  there,  111,  112  ; 
what  Palacios  found  there  300  years 
ago,  113, 114 ;  the  inscriptions,  mono 
liths,  and  decorations,  112 ;  seems  older 
than  Paleuque,  112,113, 155. 

Copper  of  Lake  Superior  described,  43. 

Coronado's  conquest  of  "Cevola,"  85,  8' 

Cortez  invades  Mexico,  210 ;  his  prog 
ress,  210-11 ;  well  received  at  the  city 
of  Mexico,  211 ;  driven  from  the  city, 
213 ;  how  the  city  was  taken,  213-14;  it 
was  immediately  rebuilt,  214 ;  the  plaza 
made  of  part  of  the  inclosure  of  the 


probably  built  by  the  Incas  on  the  site 
of  a  ruined  city  of  the  older  times,  226- 
7 ;  the  ruins  at  Cuzco,  226,  234-5. 

Egyptian  pyramids  totally  unlike  those 
in  America,  183 ;  no  resemblance  be 
tween  Egyptians  and  the  Mexican  race, 
183. 

Ethnology,  American,  discussed,  65-9; 
South  Americans  the  oldest  aborigines, 
),  185 ;  Huxley's  suggestion,  69. 


Gallatin,  Albert,  on  Mound-Builders,  34. 

Sarcilasso  partly  of Inca  blood,  258;  not 
well  qualified  to  write  a  history  of  Pe 
ru,  258-9 ;  he  began  with  the  fable  of 
Manco-Capac,  and  confined  all  history 
to  the  Incas,  259-61 ;  was  received  as 
an  "  authority,"  269  ;  his  influence  has 
misdirected  Peruvian  studies,  269. 

3ila,  valley  of,  its  ruins,  82. 

Sold  the  most  common  metal  in  Peru, 
250 ;  astonishing  abundance  of  Peru 
vian  gold-work,  249-50 ;  their  gardens 
made  of  gold,  250 ;  amount  of  gold  sent 
from  Peru  to  Spain,  238,  250 ;  gold  cal 
endar  found  recently  at  Cuzco,  236. 

Herrara  on  the  buildings  in  Yucatan,  149. 

Huehue-Tlapalau,  from  which  the  Tol- 
tecs  went  to  Mexico,  57,  75,  201-3 ;  sup 
posed  to  be  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio 
valleys,  202,  203  ;  described  in  old  Cen 
tral  American  books,  202 ;  the  Toltecs 
driven  from  Huehue-Tlapalau  by  the 
Chichimecs,  or  wild  Indians,  203;  it 
was  at  a  distance  northeast  of  Mexico, 
201,  202 ;  Cabrera  and  others  on  Hue- 
hue-Tlapalan,  202. 

Humboldt  on  Phoenician  symbols  in 
America,  186 ;  on  the  origin  of  the  Az 
tecs,  218 ;  on  Peruvian  great  roads,  245 ; 
on  books  of  hieroglyphics  found  in  Pe 
ru,  246,  255;  describes  the  pyramid  of 
Papantla,  91,  92. 

Huxley  on  American  ethnology,  69. 

Incas  of  Peru,  origin  of  the  title,  267 ; 
they  represent  only  the  last  period  of 
Peruvian  history,  261  ;  their  dynasty 
began  50t)  years  or  less  before  the  Con 
quest,  260-1 ;  list  of  the  Incas,  261 ;  Mau- 
co-Capac  a  fable,  260-1. 


have  invented  the  temple,  215. 
Cross,  the,  not  originally  a  Christian  em 
blem,  109 ;  vastly  older  than  Christian 
ity  as  a  symbolic  device,  109, 110 ;  com 
mon  in  Central  American  ruins,  109  ; 
the  assumption  that  it  was  first  used  as 
a  Christian  emblem  has  misled  inquiry 
as  to  the  age  and  origin  of  antiquities, 
110. 


great  temple,  214 ;   Cortez  could  not  Indians  of  North  America,  vain  endeav 


ors  to  connect  them  with  the  Mound- 
Builders,  62  ;  came  toward  the  Atlantic 
from  the  northwest,  59 ;  the  Iroquois 

§roup  may  have  come  first,  58 ;  their 
istribution  relative  to  the  Algonqnins, 
59,  60  ;  date  of  Algonquin  migration  es 
timated,  60 ;  these  Indians  resemble  the 
Koraks  and  Chookchees,  65, 185 ;  they 
are  entirely  distinct  from  Mound-Build- 


General  Index. 


297 


ers  and  Pueblos,  60,  G5 ;  their  barbarism 
original,  61. 

"  Inscription  Rock,"  78. 

Inscriptions  in  Central  America  written 
in  Maya  characters,  196,  written  per 
haps  in  an  old  form  of  speech  from 
which  the  Maya  family  of  dialects  was 
derived,  196 ;  attempts  to  decipher  them, 
292. 

Iron,  names  for,  in  ancient  Peru,  248. 

Israelitish  theory  of  ancient  America, 
166-7. 

Keweeuaw  Point,  a  copper  district,  44. 
Kukulcan,  his  worship,  220,  293. 

Lake  Peten  in  the  forest,  Maya  settle 
ment  there,  95;  Ursua's  road  from  Yu 
catan  to  the  lake,  95.  • 

Lauda  wrote  on  the  Mayas  of  Yucatan, 
191 ;  preserved  the  Maya  alphabet,  with 
explanations,  191. 

Languages  in  Mexico  and  Central  Amer 
ica,  200,  205 ;  three  groups,  216  ;  proba 
bly  not  radically  distinct,  206,  216 ;  the 
most  important  group  supposed  to  be 
Colhuan,  205. 

Las  Casas  on  Central  American  annalists, 
187-8 ;  what  he  says  of  the  old  books 
and  their  destruction,  188. 

Maize,  did  Indians  get  it  from  Mound- 
Builders  ?  35. 

Malays,  their  ancient  empire,  167-8  ;  their 
navigation  of  the  Pacific,  168 ;  spread 
of  their  dialects,  168 ;  came  to  America, 
169, 170,  272 ;  El  Mastfdi  on  the  Malays, 
168 ;  were  not  civilizers  in  America, 
170-1 ;  ruins  of  Malayan  cities  in  Java, 
168-9. 


mining  method  of  the  Mound-Builders, 
43 ;  their  mining  tools  found,  44,  46 ; 
they  left  a  detached  mass  of  copper  in 
a  mine,  43-4 ;  antiquity  of  their  min 
ing  works,  46,  53,  54. 

Mitla,  its  ruins  show  refined  skill  in  the 
builders,  118, 121 ;  the  decorations,  121 ; 
present  state  of  the  ruins,  117-122. 

Montesinos,  Fernando,  explored  and 
studied  Peru  fifteen  years,  261 ;  un- 
equaled  in  knowledge  of  its  antiquities 
and  traditional  history,  263  ;  his  means 
of  information,  262  ;  how  historical  nar 
ratives  and  poems  were  preserved  by 
the  amautas,  263 ;  how  literature  can 
be  preserved  by  trained  memory,  262- 
3  ;  Homer  and  the  Vedas,  26-2-3. 

Montesinos  on  Peruvian  history,  264-7; 
there  were  "three  distinct  periods,  264 ; 
he  rejects  the  Manco-Capac  fable,  264 ; 
does  not  begin  the  history  with  such 
stories,  264;  reports  64  kings  in  the  first 
period,  264 ;  his  account  of  the  Peruvian 
sovereigns,  264-7 ;  the  art  of  writing 
existed  in  the  older  time,  265 ;  how  the 
first  period  closed,  266 ;  the  second  pe 
riod,  for  1000  years,  a  period  of  inva 
sions,  divisions,  small  states,  and  gen 
eral  decline  of  civilization,  264,  267 ;  in 
this  period  the  art  of  writing  was  lost, 
267 ;  in  it  the  26  successors  of  the  64 
kings  were  merely  kings  of  Tambotoco, 
266 ;  how  this  period  ended,  267-8 ;  the 
third  period  began  with  Rocca,  the  first 
Inca,  267 ;  why  Montesinos  has  not  been 
duly  appreciated,  268-9  ;  his  facts  stand 
apart  from  his  theories,  268  ;  probabil 
ities  favor  his  report  of  three  periods, 
270-1. 

Montezuma  on  his  building-material,  209. 


Maya  writing,  221 ;  something  like  it  at 
Chicheu-Itza,  143;   Aztecs   could   not 


have  left  such  inscriptions  as  those  seen 
in  the  ruined  cities,  221. 

Mexican  ruins  in  the  central  region,  89-     i*^v  r*.^^  ^.^^^a,  ^,  «««-«. 
92 ;  Tulha,  89  ;  Xochicalco,  89,  90 ;  Pa-  Muyscas,  their  civilization,  271. 
pantla,  91,  92 ;  Cholula,  90 ;  Teotihua- 


can,  90 ;  pyramids  with  galleries,  91 ; 
unexplored  antiquities  in  this  region, 

Mining  works  of  Mound-Builders,  43-6 ; 


Manco-Capac  a  fiction  of  the  Incas,  260-  Morgan,  Lewis  H.,  on  the  Indians,  59,  60, 
1 ;  discarded  by  Montesinos  and  other 
early  Spanish  writers,  261,  269. 

Mandan  Indians  supposed  Mound-Build 
ers,  74. 

Mayas  first  seen  by  Columbus,  209 ;  their 
phonetic  alphabet  preserved,  191 ;  de 
scendants  of  the  first  civilizers,  170. 

Mexican  cities  noticed  by  Spaniards,  211, 
215 ;  what  Montezuma  said  of  his  build 
ing  materials,  209. 

Mexican  "  picture-writing"  a  peculiarity 
of  the  Aztecs,  221 ;  much  inferior  to  the 


66. 

Mound-Builders,  their  national  name  un 
known,  14,  57  ;  their  mound-work  and 
its  uses,  17-19;  -like  mound-work  in 
Mexico  and  Central  America,  70,71, 72 ; 
their  civilization,  33-39 ;  used  wood  for 
building  material,  70,  71 ;  their  iuclos- 
nres,  19-24;  their  works  at  the  south, 
24,  27;  their  principal  settlements,  30, 
31,  34;  their  border  settlements,  52; 
had  commerce  with  Mexico,  73 ;  relics 
of  their  manufactures,  40,  41,  61 ;  their 
long  stay  in  the  country,  51-55;  were 
not  ancestors  of  wild  Indians,  58-61 ; 
came  from  Mexico,  70 ;  were  connected 
with  Mexico  through  Texas,  73 ;  prob 
ably  were  Toltecs,  74,  200-3. 


Nahuatl  or  Toltec  chronology,  203-4. 
Natchez  Indians,  were  they  degenerate 

Mound-Builders,  55,  56. 
Northmen  in  America,  279-85 ;  they  die- 


298 


General  Index. 


covered  Greenland,  280;  their  settle 
ments  in  Greenland,  280-1,  284;  Biar- 
ni's  constrained  voyage  to  Massachu 
setts  in  985  A.D.,  163,  281 ;  subsequent 
voyages  to  New  England,  281-4 ;  en 
counters  with  the  Indians,  2S2,  283 ;  the 
Norse  settlements  in  Vinland  were 
probably  lumbering  and  trading  estab 
lishments,  284 ;  not  people  enough  in 
Greenland  and  Iceland  to  make  exten 
sive  settlements,  284;  written  narra 
tives  of  these  discoveries,  279-80. 


Origin  of  Mexican  and  Central  American 
civilization,  theories  of,  165-183 ;  the 
"lost  tribes"  theory  absurd,  166-7 ;  the 
Malay  theory  untenable,  170-1  ;  the 
Phoenician  theory  fails  to  explain  it, 
173-4 ;  the  Atlantic  theory  explained  by 
Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  not  likely  to  be 
received,  182 ;  it  was  an  original  Amer 
ican  civilization,  184  ;  may  have  begun 
in  South  America,  185,  246,  272-3. 

Orton,  Prof.,  on  Peruvian  antiquity,  273, 


243 ;  the  great  roads,  243-6 ;  ruine  at 
Cuzco,  234. 

Phoenicians,  or  people  of  that  race,  came 
probably  to  America  in  very  ancient 
times,  172,  173;  decline  of  geographi 
cal  knowledge  around  the  ^Egean  after 
Phoenicia  was  subjugated,  about  B.C. 
813,  272-3  ;  supposed"  Phoenician  sym 
bols  in  Central  America,  186 ;  Phoeni 
cian  race  may  have  influenced  Cen 
tral  American  civilization,  but  did  not 
originate  it,  173,  185 ;  Tyrians  storm- 
driven  to  America,  162, 163. 

Pizarro  seeks  Peru,  224-5 ;  discovers  the 
country,  225 ;  goes  to  Spain  for  aid,  225; 
finally  lands  at  Tumbez,  225 ;  marches  to 
Caxamalca.  2*20 ;  perpetrates  wholesale 
murder  and  seizes  the  Inca,  220;  the 
Inca  fills  a  room  with  gold  for  ransom, 
and  is  murdered,  220,  249. 
'Popol-Vuh,"  an  old  Quiche  book  trans 
lated,  192;  what  it  contains,  193 ;  Qui 
che  account  of  the  creation,  194 ;  four 
attempts  to  create  man,  194-5 ;  its  my 
thology  grew  out  of  an  older  system, 
193^i ;  kingdom  of  Quiche  not  older 
than  1200  A.D.,  193. 

Pueblos,  76,  77 ;  Pueblo  ruins,  77-89 ;  oc 
cupied  northern  frontier  of  the  Mexi 
can  race,  68,  217-18;  unlike  the  wild 
Indians,  67-8. 


Pacific  islands,  their  antiquities,  288-92. 
Palenque,  Stephens's  first  view  of,  100; 

this  city's  name  unknown,  104;  sup 
posed  to  have  been  the  ancient  Xibal- 

ba,  199 ;  some  of  its  ruins  described, 

105-9 ;  extent  of  the  old  city  can  not 

be  determined,  96, 105;   difficulties  of  Quiches,  notices  of,  193. 

exploration,  105, 110;  the  cross  at  Pa-  Quippus,  Peruvian,  254-5. 

leuque,  109;  aqueduct,  105.  Quirigua,  its  ruins  like  those  of  Copan, 

Papantla,  its  remarkable  stone  pyramid,      but  older,  114;  it  is  greatly  decayed, 

91,92;  important  ruins  in  the  forests!     117;  has  inscriptions,  117. 

of  Papautla  and  Misantla,  91.  Quito  subjugated  by  Huayna-Capac,  225 ; 


was  civilized  like  Peru,  270;  modern 
traveler's  remark  on,  276. 


Paper,  Peruvian  name  of,  267  ;  manufac 

ture  of,  for  writing,  proscribed  in  the 

second  period  of  Peruvian  history,  267. 
Peruvian  ancient  history,  257-67.  :Savage  theory  of  human  history,  182. 

Peruvian  civilization,  246 ;  differed  from  "  Semi-Village  Indians,"  67, 68. 

Central  American,  222-3,  246 ;  is  seen  Serpent,  figures  of,  28 ;  great  serpent  in- 

in  the  civil  and  industrial  organiza-!    closure,  28. 

tion,  247;  in  their  agriculture,  247;  in  Simpson,  Lieut.,  describes  a  Pueblo  ruin, 

their  manufactures,  247-51 ;  their  dyes,  I    88,89. 

247-8  :  their  skill  in  gold-work,  249 ;  the  Spinning  and  weaving  in  Peru,  247 ;  ves- 


abundauce  of  gold-work,  249-50 ;  their 
schools  of  the  amautas,  253,  263  ;  their 
literature,  255 ;  anciently  had  the  art  of 


tiges  of  these  arts  among  the  Mound- 
Builders,  41;  the  Mayas  had  textile 
fabrics,  209. 


writing,  255,  267 ;  had  names  for  iron,  Squier  on  the  Aztecs,  92 ;  on  the  more 
and  said  to  have  worked  iron  mines,  southern  ruins  in  Central  America,  123, 
248-9.  124 ;  on  the  monoliths  of  Copan,  112 ; 

Peruvian  ruins,  where  found,  222,  237;     on  Central  American  forests,  94 ;  on  the 
tliey  represent  two  periods  of  civiliza-j    ruins  of  Tiahuanaco,  234. 
tiou,  226;  remains  on  islands  in  Lake 

Titicaca,  227-8 ;  at  Tiahuanaco,  233-4 ;  Telescopic  tubes  of  the  Mound-Builders, 
remarkable  monolithic  gateways,  233- j    42 ;   silver  figure  of  a  Peruvian  using 
4;   at  oil  Huauuco,  239^40;   at  Gran-     such  a  tube,  254 ;  such  a  tube  on  a  Mex- 
Chimu,  2:57-8  ;  ruins  of  a  large  and  pop-!    ican  monument,  123. 
ulous  city,  237;  Cuelap,  239;  Pachaca-  "Tennis  Court"  at  Chichen-Itza,  142. 
mac,  243 ;  subterranean  passage  under  Titicaca  Lake,  its  elevation  above  6ea- 
a  river,  243;  the  aqueducts,  222,  237,1    level,  236. 


General  Index. 


299 


Tlascalans,  what  Cortez  found  among 
them,  210 ;  their  capital,  211 ;  aided  the 
Spaniards,  211. 

Toltecs  identified  with  the  Mound-Build 
ers,  201-205 ;  how  they  came  to  Mexi 
co,  201,  202;  date  of  their  migration, 
204.  See  Huehue  Tlapalan. 

Tuloom,  in  Yucatan,  150. 

Uxmal  described,  131-137 ;  more  modern 
than  Palenque,  155;  partly  inhabited, 
perhaps,  when  Cortez  invaded  Mexico, 
131, 155. 

Valley  of  Rio  Verde,  its  ruins,  82,  85. 

Wallace,  A.  R.,  on  ruins  in  Java,  16S-9. 

Welsh,  the,  in  America,  285-7;  Prince 
Madog's  emigration,  285;  his  colony 
supposed  to  have  been  destroyed  or  ab 
sorbed  by  the  Indians,  280;  letter  of 
Rev.  Morgan  Jones  on  his  "travels" 
among  the  Doeg  Indians  who  spoke 
Welsh,  286-7. 

Whipple,  Lieut.,  on  Pueblo  ruins,  78-85. 

Whittlesey  on  the  ancient  mining,  46, 
54. 

Wilson's  discoveries  in  Ecuador,  274-5. 

Writing,  phonetic,  among  the  Mayas, 
187-91 ;  Aztec  writing  much  ruder,  221 ; 
writing  in  Peru,  254-6,  267 ;  Peruvian 


books  of  hieroglyphics,  256  ;  such  writ 
ing  on  a  llama  skin  found  at  Lake  Til- 
icaca,  256. 

Xibalba,  an  ancient  Colhuan  kingdom, 
where  it  was  situated,  199 ;  subjugated 
by  the  Toltecs,  199. 

Ximenes,  Father  Francisco,  his  manu 
script  work  on  Guatemala,  191-2 ;  his 
dictionary  of  the  native  tongues,  192; 
discovered  and  translated  "  Popol 
Vuh,"192. 

Xochicalco,  its  pyramidal  temple  situa 
ted  on  an  excavated  and  chambered 
hill,  89,  90. 

Yucatan,  its  native  name  is  Maya,  125  ; 
what  is  seen  at  Mayapan,  127, 128 ;  the 
old  edifices  at  Uxmal,  131-137  ;  very 
ancient  ruins  at  Kabah,  137-139 ;  curi 
ous  construction  at  Chicheu-Itza,  142; 
remarkable  remains  at  Ake,  144 ;  agua- 
das  in  Yucatan,  145, 146;  subterranean 
reservoirs,  146 ;  Merida  built  on  the  site 
of  a  ruined  city,  126;  what  the  Span 
iards  saw  when  they  first  sailed  along 
its  coast,  163,  210. 

Zuni,  an  inhabited  Pueblo  described  by 
Lieut.  Whipple,  79,  80 ;  ruins  of  an  "  old 
Zuni"  near  it,  80,  81. 


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